pylidar

pylidar is a Python package developed for use with LIDAR data

At the moment pylidar only supports Digital Surface Model (DSM) files in the .asc format. It stores the LIDAR data internally using numpy, a fast and efficient numerical python package. It uses the matplotlib library to provide plotting abilities to help visualise the data.

Example code

from pylidar import LIDAR, plt, np

y = LIDAR('../LIDAR/st7564_dsm_1m.asc')

y.plot_shaded()

Example plots

The images below were produced using LIDAR data supplied by Environment Agency Geomatics.

The first image shows the South East area of Bath town centre. The River Avon can be seen in purple (actually due to NaN values in the data).

The second image is zoomed in from the first image and shows the Guildhall in detail. This particular data set had a 1m resolution and it's possible to see individual cars on the roads.