Extracting Point Densities, Nominal Point Spacing, and Area

About Extracting Point Densities and Area

When using the Point Cloud Statistics Extractor one may export point density and the area used to calculate those density values. There are two types of point densities to export; an overall point density and if grouping by an attribute, the density related to only those points within a unique value of the grouping attribute. The calculated area value is the area of the polygon or envelope geometry used to collect points within the point cloud. The density is calculated by dividing the number of points by the area to create units of points per square map units. The following outlines the types of point densities and their respective field names:

  • Point Density (PntDen): the point density using the point count total.
  • Point Density per group attribute value: if grouping by an attribute such as classification, the density for each unique group value is exported. The field name for these values begin with the grouping attribute code (CL, PS, RN, NR, or UD) then ‘Den’ for density and the unique value. For example the point density for class 2 would be reported in the field called ‘CLDen_2’.
  • Areas (SumArea): the area of the geometry used to summarize points in squared map units.

About Extracting the Nominal Point Spacing

Nominal point spacing refers to the average distance between two points in LAS data units. Nominal point spacing is computed as the reciprocal of the square root of point density.

How to Extract Point Densities, Nominal Point Spacing and/or Area

Point Density and Area Checkboxes

  1. On the Statistics Extractor Property Page, click either the Point Density, Nominal Point Spacing, or Area checkbox.
  2. Click the ‘Apply’ button to commit the changes.
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