Requires an LP360 Drone license.

The Geocoding tool on the Sensor Tab is used to convert laser scanned range data to LAS format projected LIDAR Points using the information from the raw laser file and the processed post-processed Trajectory file. Geocoding may also be run from the Sensor Processing Launcher for simultaneous configuration and multi-Cycle processing.

Figure 1: Geocoding on the Sensor Tab of the ribbon

Figure 2: Geocoding dialog

Flight Line Layer

Automatically defaults to the flight line layer of the Active Cycle or the Cycle corresponding with the settings button that was selected to open this dialog.

LIDAR Processing

Clip Angle - Clips cross track scan line to ±"Clip Angle" from Nadir.

Clip Range - This will remove points that are outside the minimum and maximum distance from the sensor.

Enable True Track - Dynamically adjusts the Nadir position based on aircraft roll resulting in LIDAR swaths that are straight on level ground. (Default Processing Mode) True track is our term for software-enabled roll compensation of the sensor. The roll attitude of the sensor (due to roll of the drone carrying the sensor is constantly reset to the nadir position and clipping if set) applied at this point. The effect is flight lines with straight rather than wavy edges. You should always enable True Track. For a given clipping angle, it will produce more accurate as well as better aligned data. Figure 77 shows a LiDAR swath clipped to 20° but with True Track disabled. Notice the waviness in the sides of the track.

Figure 3: True Track Example

Riegl Settings: (Riegl sensors only)

Noise Filter: Enabled by default when processing Riegl laser scanner data, this option will help automatically filter noise points from being geocoded. A user would not normally disable this option but may wish to do so when the density of the point cloud is more important than the accuracy of the points.

Process with RiUNITE: Available only when processing TV680 or TV720 Riegl laser scanner data and requires the Riegl RiUNITE utility and an applicable scanner specific Riegl license installed on the machine. The option supports MTA zones during geocoding, adding a significant amount of extra processing time, so a user would normally disable this option when the Cycle was flown lower than the first transition zone but may wish to enable when close due to slant ranges. Failing to use this option when needed may result in an abnormal amount of noise in the dataset.

Map Unresolved Targets: Available only when processing TV680 or TV720 Riegl laser scanner data with Process with RiUNITE enabled. This option specifies how unresolvable/uncertain targets are delivered; the MTA zone most probable when enabled, or no uncertain targets are delivered at all, when disabled.  A user would normally disable this option but may wish to enable when trying to detect small objects such as power lines, however, this may result in a higher amount of noise in the dataset.

Photo Processing

The Retain Photos Settings allows the user to specify the photos to be kept for geotagging and export to photogrammetric software packages using Export Photo Package or for processing in Agisoft Ortho Mapping  or Ortho Mapping . The notion of “Retained Photos” creates a layer of photos on a new layer called “Retained Photos.”

Colorize Point Cloud

At the completion of geocoding the LiDAR data, automatically run the Colorize Point Cloud step of the sensor workflow in the Sensor Tab as part of the geocoding job to use the photos to colorize each point in the point cloud for this Cycle/Flight. Selecting the option here allows one to skip running the Colorize Point Cloud step separately.

Calibration File

Options to define which Calibration file to use when Geocoding data. The Calibration files imported with the Cycle file may not be the most recent one available for your sensor. LP360 automatically checks for an updated calibration file.

Use Latest Calibration File - Downloads the most recent calibration and applicable calibration file managed by Reckon.

Use Current Calibration File - Select this option to use the file imported from the Cycle file. Use this option if no updates are available via Latest Calibration Date.

Manually Select Calibration File - Use to override the automatic selection of the calibration file and open the Select Calibration File 

Figure 4: Calibration File selection dialog

Figure 5: Select Calibration File dialog

How to GeoCode LIDAR

1. Select Geocoding button or the settings button on the Sensor Processing Launcher opens the Geocoding dialog.
2. Verify the correct _FlightLines layer is displayed.
3. Determine what Lidar Clipping you want to perform when generating the point cloud. You can configure TrueView to clip the data based on angle (degrees from nadir) or range (distance from sensor). Best practice is to clip the data to no more than ±40° from nadir and not clip the range. However, both parameters can be adjusted depending on the project and sensor specifics.
4. Verify True Track is enabled.  True Track provide roll compensation during geocode to maintain the lidar swath remains centered around nadir. Turning True Track off will result in ragged line edges if the UAV was rolling significantly during flight.
5. For Reigl sensors, the Noise Filter should be enabled. Optionally, enable the Process with RiUnite option, and its Map Unresolved Targets, as applicable.
6. When ready, select Submit Job to submit all the tasks to the Job Manager . 
7. A message will appear showing the job has been sent to the Job Manager .
8. Open the Job Manager to monitor the status of each job. Once a job has finished processing, select the job and then Complete Job to complete the job and add the results to your project.

LP360 will generate a .LAS file for each flight line and completing the job will add them to your project on a new layer named _LAS. The .LAS files that are created by Geocoding are placed in the Flights\LAS folder. Each file will also have an associated pyramid file for LP360 display.