We are happy to announce that RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems, Austria has become a sponsor of the award-winning LASzip compressor. Their contribution at the Silver level will kick-off the actual development phase of the "native LAS 1.4 extension" that had been discussed with the LiDAR community over the past two years. This "native extension" for LAS 1.4 complements the existing "compatibility mode" for LAS 1.4 that was supported by Gold sponsor NOAA and Bronze sponsors Quantum Spatial and Trimble Geospatial. The original sponsor who initiated and financed the open sourcing of the LASzip compressor was USACE – the US Army Corps of Engineers (see http://laszip.org).
The existing "LAS 1.4 compatibility mode" in LASzip was created to provide immediate support for compressing the new LAS 1.4 point types by rewriting them as old point types and storing their new information as "Extra Bytes". As an added side-benefit this has allowed legacy software without LAS 1.4 support to readily read these newer LAS files as most of the important fields of the new point types 6 to 10 can be mapped to fields of the older point types 1, 3, or 5.
In contrast, the new "native LAS 1.4 extension" of LASzip that is now sponsored in part by RIEGL will utilize the "natural break" in the format due to the new point types of LAS 1.4 to introduce entirely new features such as "selective decompression", "rewritable classifications and flags", "integrated spatial indexing", … and other functionality that has been brain-stormed with the community since rapidlasso GmbH had issued the open "call for input" on native LASzip compression for LAS 1.4 in January 2014. We invite you to follow the progress or contribute to the development via the discussions in the "LAS room".
About rapidlasso GmbH
Technology powerhouse rapidlasso GmbH specializes in efficient LiDAR processing tools that are widely known for their high productivity. They combine robust algorithms with efficient I/O and clever memory management to achieve high throughput for data sets containing billions of points. The company’s flagship product – the LAStools software suite – has deep market penetration and is heavily used in industry, government agencies, research labs, and educational institutions. Visit http://rapidlasso.com for more information.
About RIEGL
Austrian based RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems is a performance leader in research, development and production of terrestrial, industrial, mobile, bathymetric, airborne and UAS-based laser scanning systems. RIEGL’s innovative hard- and software provides powerful solutions for nearly all imaginable fields of application. Worldwide sales, training, support and services are delivered from RIEGL’s Austrian headquarters and its offices in Vienna, Salzburg, and Styria, main offices in the USA, Japan, and in China, and by a worldwide network of representatives covering Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and Africa. Visit http://riegl.com for more information.