To Bring in LiDAR Point Cloud Data

You can bring LiDAR point cloud data into your map using the Point Cloud Manager. Point clouds are large data sets composed of 3D point data.Geographic LiDAR data is most commonly available in LAS (LiDAR Aerial Survey) or ASCII (.xyz) format.

To add a point cloud to your map

  1. In the Display Manager, click DataAdd Point Cloud DataFrom Index File.
  2. In the Select Point Cloud Index dialog box, select the index file for the point cloud data store to add to your map
  3. Click Open.

    AutoCAD Map 3D adds a point cloud layer to the Display Manager, and add the point cloud drawing object to your map.

To add a point cloud to your map using the Point Cloud Manager

  1. In the Point Cloud ribbon tab, click Index File to display the Point Cloud Manager, or enter mappointcloudmanager at the command prompt.
  2. Click Add File. The Open dialog box appears.
  3. Select the .ISD files you want to bring in.
  4. Click Open.

    The files are added to the Point Cloud Manager. You can now create merge files and filter your point cloud data the same way you work with LiDAR data.

To create a point cloud layer for point cloud objects already in your map

  1. Click DataAdd Drawing DataPoint Cloud.
  2. In the Select Point Cloud dialog box, select the point cloud object or objects.
  3. To add point cloud objects to a Display Manager group, select Group Selection.
  4. Click OK.

    AutoCAD Map 3D adds a point cloud layer to the Display Manager.

To adjust the display density point clouds in your map

  1. Click Create ribbon tab Point Cloud PanelPoint Cloud drop-down list.
  2. Adjust the Point Cloud Density slider to the right to increase the display density of your point cloud objects. Adjust the slider to the left to decrease the display density.
  3. Alternately, at the command prompt enter pointclouddensity, then enter a value from 1 through 100.