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	LViz: 3D LiDAR Visualization Tool	19 Nov 2010	Visualization
Keywords: point cloud, lidar, viz, ascii License: GNU General Public License Description: LViz is a tool designed for 3D visualization of LiDAR point cloud and interpolated data, the tool offers import of LiDAR point cloud data (delimited text file) or interpolated surfaces (in ascii or arc ascii grid formats). LViz also offers texture mapping and user control over display settings such as data and background color. LViz was originally written for visualization of outputs from the GEON LiDAR Workflow system and is designed to run on Windows platforms. Although originally conceived for the 3D visualization of LiDAR data, LViz can be used to view any 3D point cloud data such as seismicity or gravity.
2	VRMesh Survey: LiDAR Point Cloud Classification Tool	30 Mar 2011	Software Suite
Keywords: lidar, bare earth, point cloud, classification License: Commercial License Description: Vrmesh Survey is an intelligent solution for automatic point cloud classification and bare-earth extraction. It automatically and accurately classifies LIDAR point clouds into ground, vegetation, building, and others. More than 90% identification jobs will be done in a one-click process. Manual adjustments can be easily performed in a cross section view. It also provides comprehensive functionalities to generate accurate triangle meshes.
3	MCC-LIDAR	9 Jun 2011	Point Cloud Analysis
Keywords: classification, filter, curvature, ground, interpolation License: GNU General Public License Description: Multiscale Curvature Classification of ground returns in 3-D lidar point clouds (las files), designed for forested environments
4	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
5	LIDAR Analyst	20 Mar 2014	Software Suite
Keywords: LIDAR, Automated Feature Extraction License: Commercial License Description: LIDAR Analyst® software is the premier feature extraction solution for airborne LIDAR data, allowing geospatial analysts to unlock the value of LIDAR by automatically extracting 3D objects such as bare earth, trees or buildings. Now the software has been upgraded with a major enhancement: an integrated 3D Viewer that delivers mission-critical high-resolution 3D exploitation and further establishes LIDAR Analyst as the Gold Standard. Enjoy the performance of viewing and manipulating LIDAR data containing over a billion points. LIDAR Analyst has eight years of proven heritage as one of the first commercially released LIDAR applications. The power, speed, accuracy and broad selection of tools enable users to get real work accomplished. Thats why LIDAR Analyst is so widely respected and used daily by military forces, federal agencies, local governments, academic universities and GIS services providers around the globe. Since LIDAR Analyst is an extension for Esri ArcGIS®, the products familiar environment makes it easy to install and learn. Use the 3D Viewer to manipulate, filter and edit LIDAR point clouds displayed in stunning color. Rapidly inventory all the buildings across a city or area of interest by using LIDAR Analysts advanced algorithms to detect, recognize, and extract complex 3D building shapes. Count the trees in a forest or scattered throughout a neighborhood. Strip away the buildings and shrubbery to reveal the true ground level for detailed terrain.
6	CHaMP Transformation Tool	4 Sep 2014	Data Management / Handling
Keywords: transformation, georeferencing point cloud License: GNU General Public License Description: The Ecogemorphology & Topographic Analysis Lab (ET-AL) and the RSGIS Laboratory developed this ArcGIS Add-in for the transformation and projection of CHaMP field survey data (Bouwes et al. 2011) into real world coordinates given hand-held GPS coordinates from just three benchmarks. The CTT will work with any unprojected data in a file geodatabase, and gives you multiple ways to do an afine transformation based on a simple shift and rotation. Although other transformation tools exist in ArcGIS, there is not a simple sequence of geoprocessing tools, which allow you to transform vector data in a manner that preserves the high relative accuracy of a total station survey. See Wheaton et al. (2012) and the ReadMe page for more background.
7	CHaMP Topo Processing Toolbar	4 Sep 2014	DEM generation
Keywords: total station surveys, topographic License: GNU General Public License Description: The CHaMP Topo Processing Toolbar exists to take raw data from CHaMP ground-based topographic surveys and run these through steps of 1) survey data evaluation, 2) generating topographic surfaces, 3) DEM derived products and metrics (including, detrending, derivation of cross sections, profiles, thalwegs, bankfull, etc.), 4) QA/QC. Although the overall workflow of the tool is focused on CHaMP topographic data, many of the individual commands and steps will be more generically useful to some.
8	Lidar360	5 Jul 2018	Visualization, Point Cloud Analysis, DEM generation, DEM Analysis, Data Management / Handling, Software Suite
Keywords: Point Cloud Processing, Terrain Classification, ALS Forestry, TLS Forestry, Lidar Power line Survey License: Commercial License Description: Lidar360 is a comprehensive point cloud post-processing software suite developed by GreenValley International Inc (GVI). It offers a huge collection of tools and functions, from basic point cloud management tools like outlier removal, normalization, projection, and extraction, to advanced algorithms for industry-specific applications, e.g. Terrain, ALS/TLS Forestry, and Powerline Survey. The Lidar360 suite consists of 5 modules (as of June 2018): 1. Framework -- contains a number of core toolsets to effectively visualize and interact with lidar point cloud including display modes, statistics, data management, classification tools, vector editing and strip adjustment; 2. Terrain -- a suite of GIS tools for calculating slope, roughness, aspect & contours from surface models. Additionally, it contains tools for repairing surface models, i.e., spikes, holes and extraneous values; 3 & 4. ALS/TLS Forestry -- The ALS Forestry functions allow users to calculate essential forest metrics including elevation, intensity, canopy cover, LAI etc., and provides regression models and segmentation algorithms such as CHM Segmentation & Point Cloud Segmentation. The TLS Forestry tools are specifically designed to work with terrestrial lidar data. It offers a wealth of tools including Gaussian Mixture Model Classification and TLS Point Cloud segmentation, enabling the users to better classify ground, leaf and trunk points and segment individual trees from TLS point cloud data; and, 5. Power
9	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.
10	LP360 for ArcGIS, LP360 for Windows	9 Apr 2013	Visualization, Point Cloud Analysis, DEM generation, DEM Analysis, Software Suite
Keywords: LIDAR, Classification, Breaklines, Visualization, Automatic Extraction, Volumetric Analysis License: Commercial License Description: LP360 for ArcGIS is an extension to ArcMap that allows visualizing and processing of very large point clouds (LIDAR and dense image matching) in a familiar GIS desktop environment. Available in three levels of capability, LP360 provides tools from rapid visualization and derived product generation through advanced features such as automatic ground classification and building footprint extraction. LP360 adds to the native viewing capabilities of ArcGIS 10.1 by providing the capability to work with very large projects such as county-wide aerial LIDAR data sets. From Quality Check to advanced feature extractions, LP360 is the tool of choice for LIDAR professionals throughout the world.
11	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.
12	MCC-LIDAR GUI	23 May 2017	Data Management / Handling
Keywords: Classification, Ground License: Commercial License Description: This is a GUI version of the MCC LIDAR ground classification tool. It has been compiled for 64-bit editions of Windows and has successfully classified LAS files with over 83 million points successfully. This version includes all the necessary binaries and DLL files. The original MCC LIDAR homepage (non-gui) can be found here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/mcclidar/ The installer is 880KB in size. Installed binaries are 2.29MB in size.
13	PDAL Ground Classification Tool (GUI Enabled)	29 Jun 2017	DEM generation, DEM Analysis, Data Management / Handling
Keywords: ground return classification PDAL SMRF PMF GUI automatic automated License: Commercial License Description: This is a GUI enabled version of the PDAL ground classification tool which supports both SMRF and PMF ground classification methods. It provides for automated ground return classification and supports both LAS and LAZ files. Code base is PDAL version 1.5 and has been compiled for 64-bit editions of Windows 7 or greater. All necessary exe's and DLL's are included in the installer.