Volumetric Analysis, Digitized Input

About the Volumetric Analysis, Digitized Input Macro

The Volumetric Analysis, Digitized Input is designed to be an easy-to-use macro that quickly computes the volume of a polygon that you digitize in the map. The setup for this macro is minimal, as all settings are predefined as the most typically used settings for a Volumetrics Analysis. You may change any of the settings to suit your task, but the macro will run with only specifying a Project Path and a digitized input polygon.

This macro consists of a Base Conflation task followed by a Volumetric Analysis task. The 2D input polygon from the point cloud task tool is conflated once and used for both the hull and the base bounding polygons needed for the volume computation. This macro is appropriate when you expect the hull and base surfaces to be at the same elevation along the circumscribing polygon vertices. You will use the Tool Geometry on the Point Cloud Task toolbar to define the polygon for both the hull and base. An example use of this macro is computing the volume of a pit or stockpile.

Intermediate shapefiles will contain the output of the conflation that is used as input to the volume calculation, and the volume calculations are written to a default output location in the Project Path.

The output polygon is written to a default output location in the Project Path. The Cut/Fill image is turned on by default and is also written to a default output location in the Project Path. With each subsequent run of the macro, a new version of the Cut/Fill image is generated. Each newly created Cut/Fill image is given a unique filename (with incremental numbers appended) to prevent overwriting the previous image.

The LAS output is turned off by default, but its default output location in the Project Path is predefined.

Other notable features of this macro include:

The active LAS Layer is used anywhere a LAS Layer is needed.
The Conflation method defaults to Summarize Z using Closest Z.
The Base surface in the volume computation is derived from the polygon only.
The Hull surface in the volume computation is derived from LAS points.
The Hull perimeter uses the Base Polygon.

How to use the Volumetric Analysis, Digitized Input Macro

Set the Project Path if it has not already been set.
Display the Table of Contents window if it is not already displayed. (In LP360 for Windows, click View and then Table of Contents. In LP360 for ArcGIS, click Windows and then Table of Contents.)
Click the Point Cloud Tasks tab.
Under View, select the LP360, the LP360 Viewer Integration, and the LP360 Point Cloud Task toolbars to display. (In ArcGIS, click Customize and then Toolbars to see the available toolbars.)
Select Volumetric Analysis, Digitized Input from the Point Cloud Task drop-down menu. Note that this point cloud task is set up as a macro with two steps: Conflate Base, and Volumetric Analysis.
All of the settings are predefined, as described above. If you would like to change any of the settings, do so and click Apply. See Volumetrics Properties for information on the settings.
Use one of the drawing tools on the PCT toolbar to draw a shape of the area on which you want Volumetric Analysis completed in the map.
The resulting polygon will appear in the map. Also, clicking the Identify button will display a data table with the Volumetric Analysis results.