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Import E57

LP360 Support
  • Updated
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Requires an LP360 Drone, LP360 Land Standard, or LP360 Geospatial Basic license.

The Import E57 tool, on the Project tab of the ribbon, converts one or more E57 point cloud files (.e57) into LAS format for use in LP360. Each E57 file is converted to a corresponding LAS 1.4 file, preserving all available point attributes. The resulting LAS files can optionally be added directly to the current LP360 project via the standard Add Files dialog.

Figure 1: Import E57 dialog

Dialog Layout

Input E57 Files

Select one or more E57 files to convert to LAS:

Use the Browse Files… button to open a file browser and select one or more .e57 files. Multiple files can be selected in a single browse session. All selected files appear in the file list. Files are processed sequentially when the import runs.

Output Location

Output Folder:

Specifies the folder where the converted LAS files will be written. By default, this is set to an E57Converted subfolder located in the same directory as the current LP360 project file. Use the Browse Folder… button to choose a different destination. The folder will be created automatically if it does not exist.

Options

Two mutually exclusive options control what happens after conversion:

Option Description
Convert Only Converts the selected E57 files to LAS and saves them to the output folder. After a successful import, the output folder opens in Windows Explorer.
Add to Project Converts the files to LAS and then opens the standard LP360 Add Files dialog pre-populated with the resulting LAS files on the LAS tab. You must review and confirm the settings in that dialog before the files are added to the project. No automatic reprojection or CRS validation is performed — see the CRS and Units Considerations section below before using this option.

Convert Only is selected by default.

Running the Import

Click Import to begin. The Import button is only enabled when at least one file has been added to the list and an output folder has been specified.

During conversion, a progress label and progress bar appear showing the current file being processed (e.g., Converting file 2 of 5: MyScan.e57). The dialog controls are disabled while the import is running.

Output

Each input E57 file produces one LAS file in the output folder. The output filename matches the E57 stem (e.g., MyScan.e57 → MyScan.las).

Output files conform to LAS 1.4 with the following point attributes mapped from the E57 source:

E57 Field LAS Attribute Notes
cartesianX/Y/Z X, Y, Z Always present; required
intensity Intensity If present in source
returnIndex Return number If present in source
returnCount Number of returns If present in source
classification Classification If present in source
timeStamp GPS time If present; LAS point format 6 or 7
colorRed/Green/Blue Red, Green, Blue If present; triggers LAS point format 7

Point format selection:

  • Format 6 — XYZ, intensity, return data, classification, GPS time (no color)
  • Format 7 — Same as format 6, plus RGB color

Coordinate precision is fixed at 1 mm (scale factor 0.001). Offsets are computed from the data bounds to maximize precision.

CRS and Units Considerations — Read Before Adding to a Project

⚠️ Important
The E57 format mandates SI units (meters) for all coordinate data per the ASTM E2807 standard. The Import E57 tool performs a direct, literal conversion of those meter-based coordinates into LAS — it does not reproject or convert units to match your project's coordinate reference system (CRS). If your project uses US Survey Feet (USFT), international feet, or any projected CRS whose linear unit differs from meters, the output LAS file will not align with your project data without additional steps.

What the tool does and does not do

  • Does: Convert E57 Cartesian coordinates (meters) directly to LAS XYZ values at 1 mm precision, preserving all available point attributes.
  • Does not: Write a Coordinate Reference System (CRS) record (WKT VLR) to the output LAS file. The output LAS has no embedded CRS information — LP360 and other software will not be able to automatically identify what coordinate system the file is in.
  • Does not: Detect or respect the linear units of the active LP360 project. If your project is in USFT, the LAS file will still be in meters.
  • Does not: Validate that the output LAS coordinates fall within the spatial extent of your project, or that the horizontal datum matches.
  • Does not: Perform reprojection. If the E57 data is in a different projected CRS than your project (e.g., the E57 is in UTM Zone 14N but your project is in NAD83 State Plane Texas Central USFT), the tool will not transform the coordinates — the data will appear shifted or entirely outside your project's extent.

Understanding what CRS your E57 data is in

E57 files may store coordinate reference system metadata as a string in the coordinateMetadata field of the file's root node, though many producers leave this field empty or populate it inconsistently. Confirm the CRS of your E57 data with the data provider before importing.

Key questions to answer before importing:

  1. What is the horizontal CRS of the E57 data (datum, projection, EPSG code)?
  2. What are the linear units of that CRS (meters, USFT, international feet)?
  3. Does that CRS match the CRS of your LP360 project?
  4. Is the vertical datum consistent with your project?

Scenarios and the LP360 workflow to resolve them

Scenario LP360 workflow after conversion
E57 is in the same projected CRS and same units as the project (e.g., both in NAD83 UTM Zone 14N meters) The coordinates are correct but the LAS has no embedded CRS. Open Layer Properties → Source tab and use Select CRS to assign the correct spatial reference to the layer. No reprojection is needed.
E57 is in meters but the project is in USFT or international feet (same datum and projection, only units differ)
  1. First assign the source CRS (in meters) to the LAS layer via Layer Properties → Source tab → Select CRS.
  2. Then run the Reproject LAS task, setting the output CRS to the same projection but with the feet-based EPSG code that matches your project. LP360 will rescale all coordinates appropriately during the transform.
E57 and project are in different projected CRS (e.g., E57 in UTM, project in State Plane)
  1. Assign the correct source CRS to the LAS layer via Layer Properties → Source tab → Select SR.
  2. Run the Reproject LAS task, specifying your project CRS as the output. LP360 will perform the full coordinate transformation including any unit differences.
CRS of the E57 is unknown Use Convert Only to obtain the LAS file first. Confirm the CRS with your data provider before assigning a spatial reference or adding the data to a project. Adding data with the wrong CRS assigned will produce incorrect results that may be difficult to detect visually.

Assigning a spatial reference to the converted LAS layer

Because the output LAS contains no embedded CRS, the first step in every workflow above is to assign the correct spatial reference inside LP360. To do this:

  1. Add the converted LAS to your project (via Add to Project or manually through the Add Files dialog).
  2. Right-click the layer in the Table of Contents and choose Properties.
  3. Open the Source tab.
  4. Use one of the following buttons to assign the CRS:
    • Select SR — choose from the LP360 coordinate system library by EPSG code or name.
    • Import SR — import from an existing .prj or .srs file.
    • New SR — define a geographic or projected CRS manually.
  5. Click Apply. This annotates the layer with the CRS but does not reproject the coordinates.

Reprojecting or converting units with LAS SRS Transform

Once the source CRS is correctly assigned, use the LAS SRS Transform task to produce a new LAS file in your target CRS. This task:

  • Reprojects XYZ coordinates from the source CRS to any target CRS, including handling linear unit differences between meters and feet.
  • Writes the target CRS as a properly annotated WKT VLR in the output LAS file, so the result can be added to your project without further CRS assignment steps.
  • Can be run on a single layer or batched across multiple layers.

Access the task from the LP360 Tasks panel. Configure the input layer, set the output CRS (specify the EPSG code matching your project), and run. The output LAS file is ready to add to your project directly.

Only the first scan is converted

If an E57 file contains multiple scans, only the first scan (index 0) is converted to LAS. Confirm with your data provider whether your E57 files contain a single scan or multiple scans. Multi-scan E57 files will require individual scan extraction before a complete import can be performed.

Hard Requirements

  • E57 coordinates must be in meters. The E57 standard mandates SI units. If an E57 file is detected to have non-meter coordinates based on embedded VLR metadata, the import will be rejected with an error asking you to re-project the source data to meters first.
  • E57 files must contain a data3D node with at least one scan, and that scan must include valid Cartesian coordinate fields (cartesianX, cartesianY, cartesianZ).

Error Handling

If one or more files fail to convert, a summary message is shown listing each failed file and the reason for failure. Any files that converted successfully are still written to the output folder and, if Add to Project was selected, offered in the Add Files dialog. The tool returns partial success when at least one file converts successfully.

Buttons

Button Action
Browse Files… Opens a multi-select file dialog filtered to .e57 files
Browse Folder… Opens a folder picker to set the output location
Import Starts the conversion (enabled only when files and a folder are set)
Cancel Closes the dialog without importing
Help Opens this help article

Tips

  • The dialog remembers its last size and position. Hold Ctrl while opening the dialog to reset it to its default placement.
  • Always use Convert Only first when working with unfamiliar E57 data. Inspect the resulting LAS layer — confirm its spatial extent and then assign the CRS via Layer Properties before running LAS SRS Transform.
  • If you are working with a known E57 source that is consistently in a documented CRS, you can streamline the workflow by using Add to Project, immediately assigning the CRS in Layer Properties, and then running Reproject LAS in a single session.

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