Pyramiding Files when Adding Files to Layer

About Pyramiding Files

Pyramiding is used to improve display performance for large files. This is similar to the way reduced resolution overviews work. When the Pyramid checkbox is selected, a pyramid file (.QVR) is created for any file that is either missing the .QVR file or the .QVR file is older than the file. For LAS files, pyramid layers are generated in the .QVR file based on the specified Thinning factor. The higher the thinning factor, the fewer levels there will be in the pyramid file. A thinning factor of 16 is recommended. With a pyramid thinning factor of 16, the first level will contain every 16th point of the full resolution LAS file. The second level will contain every 16th point of the first pyramid level and so on until the current level contains fewer than 16 points.

How to pyramid files when adding files to layer

1. Click the Add LIDAR Data Layer command on the LP360 toolbar. 2. Select the files to add by following the instructions in Adding Files in LP360 for ArcMap or Adding Files in LP360 for Windows. Also specify any other setup options as needed. 3. To pyramid files upon adding them to a LIDAR Layer, click Pyramid. 4. For LAS files, enter a Thinning factor. This will specify the number of levels in the pyramid. The higher the thinning factor, the more changes you will see in point densities when you zoom in to the map.

Note The lowest possible thinning factor is 2, but such a small thinning factor creates pyramid data approximately equal in size to the actual LAS files, effectively doubling the amount of data on disk. Higher values for thinning factors will create much smaller pyramids. An intermediate factor of 16 is recommended.

If you have a large amount of data you may wish to prepare the data before you begin working with it.