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FAQ

  • How do you pronounce PDAL?

    The proper spelling of the project name is PDAL, in uppercase. It is pronounced to rhyme with "GDAL".

  • What is PDAL's relationship to PCL?

    PDAL is PCL's data translation cousin. PDAL is focused on providing a declarative pipeline syntax for orchestrating translation operations. PDAL can also use PCL through the :ref:`filters.pclblock` mechanism.

  • What is PDAL's relationship to libLAS?

    The idea behind libLAS was limited to LIDAR data and basic manipulation. libLAS was also trying to be partially compatible with LASlib and LAStools. PDAL, on the other hand, aims to be a ultimate library and a set of tools for manipulating and processing point clouds and is easily extensible by its users.

  • Are there any command line tools in PDAL similar to LAStools?

    Yes. The pdal command provides a wide range of features which go far beyond basic LIDAR data processing. Additionally, PDAL is licensed under an open source license (this applies to the whole library and all command line tools).

  • Is there any compatibility with libLAS's LAS Utility Applications or LAStools?

    No. The the command line interface was developed from scratch with focus on usability and readability. You will find that the pdal command has several well-organized subcommands such as info or translate (see :ref:`apps`).