Global Mapper LiDAR Module Released with Feature Extraction to Create 3D Buildings and Trees

Hallowell, Maine – September 30, 2014 – Blue Marble Geographics (bluemarblegeo.com) is pleased to announce the release of the LiDAR Module for Global Mapper version 16. This major upgrade includes the ability to quickly identify and classify building and vegetation points in unclassified LiDAR data, a new tool to automate the feature extraction process for creating 3D vector buildings and trees, and dramatically improved automatic classification of ground points. Blue Marble’s geospatial data manipulation, visualization and conversion solutions are used worldwide by thousands of GIS analysts at software, oil and gas, mining, civil engineering, surveying, and technology companies, as well as governmental and university organizations.

The LiDAR Module is an optional add-on for Global Mapper, an affordable and easy-to-use GIS application capable of displaying, converting, and analyzing virtually any type of geospatial data. With the LiDAR Module, Global Mapper users can quickly view and process LiDAR point clouds containing a billion points or more. The LiDAR Module offers an array of post-processing tools that enable the querying, filtering, editing, reclassifying, and exporting of LiDAR data. This release features a variety of updates to both the Global Mapper base product and the LiDAR Module. 

Many of the enhancements in version 16 of the LiDAR Module have been designed to improve the quality of the raw point cloud by offering the means to fully utilize significantly more points. Advanced algorithms that distinguish building points and vegetation allow previously unclassified points to be used for precise structural modeling and biomass analysis. Improved ground point detection means that gridded terrain layers derived from these recycled points are generated at a much higher resolution.

“Version 16 of the LiDAR Module represents a major step forward in Global Mapper’s LIDAR processing capability,” stated Blue Marble President, Patrick Cunningham. “It is further evidence of Blue Marble’s commitment to providing high-end spatial tools at a truly affordable price. Compare Global Mapper to any other LiDAR tool and you will be hard pressed to find a better value.”

Additional upgrades to the LiDAR Module include support for filtering LiDAR point clouds by elevation range, color, allowed classes, scan angle range, or point source IDs prior to gridding or exporting as well new functionality for creating a gridded surface model using return intensity or height above ground values rather than elevation. As an enhancement to the existing ability to colorize points by the RGB value from an underlying aerial image, the new release offers the option to colorize point clouds by the calculated difference in return values.

For a complete list of new features and enhancements be sure to visit http://www.bluemarblegeo.com/products/global-mapper-lidar.php

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About Blue Marble Geographics: Blue Marble Geographics of Hallowell, Maine is a leading developer and provider of software products and services for highly accurate geospatial data conversion solutions. Blue Marble is known for their coordinate conversion and file format expertise and is the developer of The Geographic Calculator, GeoCalc SDK, Global Mapper, LiDAR Module for Global Mapper, Global Energy Mapper, and Global Mapper SDK. The company has been writing GIS software tools and solutions for over twenty years and currently serves hundreds of thousands of users worldwide.

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