FUSION

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General Information

Tool Type
Visualization, Point Cloud Analysis, DEM generation, DEM Analysis, Software Suite
Description
The FUSION/LDV analysis and visualization system consists of two main programs, FUSION and LDV (LIDAR data viewer), and a collection of task-specific command line programs. The primary interface, provided by FUSION, consists of a graphical display window and a control window. The FUSION display presents all project data using a 2D display typical of geographic information systems. It supports a variety of data types and formats including shapefiles, images, digital terrain models, canopy surface models, and LIDAR return data. LDV provides the 3D visualization environment for the examination and measurement of spatially-explicit data subsets. Command line programs provide specific analysis and data processing capabilities designed to make FUSION suitable for processing large LIDAR acquisitions.

Command line utilities and processing programs, called the FUSION LIDAR Toolkit or FUSION-LTK, provide extensive processing capabilities including bare-earth point filtering, surface fitting, data conversion, and quality assessment for large LIDAR acquisitions. These programs are designed to run from a command prompt or using batch programs.

FUSION runs on all current versions of Windows and has been successfully used on LINUX systems using WINE. The FUSION/LDV visualization system is GUI based. The command line tools require the use of batch files to be most effective.
Keywords
LIDAR, visualization, processing
Licensing
Free to use/Unspecified
Cost
Free
Current Version
N/A
Download URL
Project URL

Technical Information

Operate System
Windows
Code Type
Program [GUI], Program [command line], Software application
Language
C, C++, Builds with MS VC++ V6
Dependencies
All FUSION tools will use the LASzip.dll developed by Martin Isenburg and distributed as part of the LAStools suite. The DLL is not required but enables reading and writing of compressed LAS data. To use the DLL, simply copy it to the FUSION install folder.

Other Information

Citation
Help & Tutorial Info.
Extensive manual is available: http://forsys.cfr.washington.edu/fusion/FUSION_manual.pdf Tutorials developed and supported by the USDA Forest Service's Remote Sensing Applications Center: http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/lidar_training/
Support Contact Info.
bmcgaughey@fs.fed.us, http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/lidar_training/
Additional Information
FUSION source code is available (without support) on request
Submission Date
4 Aug 2015
Last Updated
4 Aug 2015

Contributors

Main Contributor
Full Name
Robert McGaughey
Role
Lead Developer
Email
bmcgaughey@fs.fed.us
Organization
USDA Forest Service, Pacific Nothwest Research Station

Overall Ratings:  
Based on 1 rating

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FUSION - a forest lidar batch processing warhorse
Rated by Tyson L. Swetnam
3 Sep 2015
  I've been using FUSION software now for 7 years. It was one of the first open-source LiDAR processing tools available and has been continuously updated and refined over the years by Bob McGaughey at the USFS-PNW Research Station. It can do LAS/LAZ batch processing better than any other free software I've used to date and is still a go-to program for me when I am working with point cloud data for forest and vegetation analysis.
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