The OpenTopography Tool Registry provides a community populated clearinghouse of software, utilities, and tools oriented towards high-resolution topography data (e.g. collected with lidar technology) handling, processing, and analysis. Tools registered below range from source code to full-featured software applications. We welcome contributions to the registry via the Contribute a Tool page.

	Tool Name	Date	Tool Type	Rating
1	DielmoOpenLidar	7 May 2011	Point Cloud Analysis
Keywords: pointcloud, visualization, data management analysis License: GNU General Public License Description: DielmoOpenLiDAR is an open source software with GNU GPL license based in gvSIG for the management of LiDAR data. It allows access, visualization and analysis of the original LiDAR data, toguether with the possibility of visualizing at the same time big volumes (hundreds of GigaBytes) of original LiDAR data (irregular points in formats LAS and BIN) along with other geographic data. In the near future, it will also generate basic final products such as (DSM, DTM, intensity images, etc) and new added value final products. Developing open source software for the management of LiDAR data, we hope to make this technology more accessible to standard GIS users and scientific communities, having as final objective increase the use of LiDAR data. For developing this application, we had the collaboration of the Regional Valencia Council for Infrastructures and Transportation - CIT and National Geographic Institute of Spain - IGN
2	LAStools	6 May 2012	Software Suite
Keywords: filtering, clipping, reprojecting, compression, classification, DSM, DTM, TIN, contours, bare-earth License: Other Description: LAStools are a collection of highly-efficient, batch scriptable, multi-core command line tools for processing LiDAR that is built upon LASlib (with LASzip). lasground.exe extracts the bare-earth by classifying all ground points lasoverlap.exe checks overlap & vertical/horizontal alignment of flight lines lascontrol.exe quality checks elevations for a list of control points lasclassify.exe find buildings and the trees above the ground lasgrid.exe rasters very large LAS files into elevation or intensity grids lasboundary.exe extracts a boundary polygon that encloses the points lasheight.exe computes for each point its height above the ground lasclip.exe clips points against building footprints / swath boundaries lastile.exe tiles huge amounts of LAS points into square tiles laszip.exe compresses the LAS files in a completely lossless manner lasinfo.exe prints out a quick overview of the contents of a LAS FILE lasindex.exe creates a spatial index LAX file for fast spatial queries txt2las.exe converts LIDAR data from ASCII text to binary LAS format las2txt.exe turns LAS into human-readable and easy-to-parse ASCII lasmerge.exe merges several LAS files into one lassplit.exe splits points of one (or many) LAS files into flight lines lassort.exe sorts points by gps_time, point_source, or into spatial proximity las2las.exe extracts last returns, clips, subsamples, translate
3	ENVI LiDAR	17 Dec 2012	Software Suite
Keywords: LiDAR, Point Cloud, DSm, DTM, Feature Extraction License: Commercial License Description: ENVI LiDAR is an interactive geospatial software environment that allows you to create realistic 3D visualizations and easily extract important features (trees, powerlines, buildings) from LiDAR point cloud data. Elevation information contained within LiDAR can be included in your geospatial analysis projects such as viewshed and line-of-sight studies, forest inventories, right-of-way analyses, and urban planning applications. With ENVI LiDAR, you have the software tool to quickly prepare LiDAR data, accurately extract 3D features, fine-tune results, and export your results to your existing tools, such as ENVI or ArcMap, for further analysis or inclusion in your geospatial products.
4	lidar2dems	29 Jul 2015	DEM generation
Keywords: DEM, DSM, DTM, CHM, PDAL, points2grid, gridding License: BSD license Description: The lidar2dems project is a collection open-source (FreeBSD license) command line utilities for supporting the easy creation of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from LiDAR data. lidar2dems uses the PDAL library (and associated dependencies) for doing the actual point processing and gridding of point clouds into raster data.
5	uniDEM	29 May 2019	Visualization, Point Cloud Analysis, DEM generation, DEM Analysis, Data Management / Handling
Keywords: DEM editing, automated workflows, Point Cloud Classification and DEM generation, DTM creation, QC License: Commercial License Description: uniDEM specializes in post-processing DEMs of all resolutions. This release includes the capability to automate workflows based on graphical programming (scripting), the automated “Bare Ground Classification” tool and the “LiDAR Point Cloud Classification” tool. uniDEM is an efficient but comprehensive solution for standardized large-area DEM creation as well as for generating customer tailored DEMs over small areas. Creates DEMs from LIDAR (las, laz, e57) and completes a DSM or DTM in minutes.
6	NERC-ARF DEM Scripts	7 Jul 2016	DEM generation
Keywords: DTM, DSM, LAS, GRASS License: GNU General Public License Description: A collection of scripts developed by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Airborne Research Facility Data Analysis Node (NERC-ARF-DAN; formerly ARSF) for generating DEMs from point clouds. Through command line tools or Python functions the ARSF DEM Scripts provide a common interface to generate DSMs or DTMs from LAS files using GRASS, SPDLib, points2grid, FUSION or LAStools. When using SPDLib, FUSION or LAStools will classify ground returns to produce a DTM (note license required to produce a DTM using LAStools). Additional utilities are available for manipulating DEMs (e.g., patching with a courser resolution DEM to fill in gaps) using GRASS.
7	Drainage Structures Mapping Algorithm (DSMA)	8 Mar 2021	Point Cloud Analysis
Keywords: bridges, culverts, ALS point clouds, road centerlines License: BSD license Description: Mapping bridges and culverts locations and orientations using classified ALS point clouds and road centerline information.