Blog · Topic
20 posts about file formats, written by people who have actually been down a mine with a scanner.
Command-line recipes for converting E57 point clouds to LAS, LAZ and COPC with PDAL, plus CloudCompare, LAStools and Rust alternatives. The options that matter, and what E57 data does not survive.
November 7, 2026Send an E57 scan as a browser link instead of a file. Which exports keep the 360° photos, how to check before you send, and how the options compare: Dropbox, Trimble Connect, Potree, ATIS and Swyvl.
November 7, 2026A 360° photo shows detail but has no scale or position. A point cloud has both but is hard to read up close. An E57 that keeps its 360s gives you both: measure and pin notes on what you can actually see.
November 7, 2026Most drone video is 10-bit HEVC (H.265), which won't play in browsers or many editors. Here's what the codec, bit depth, and resolution mean for sharing footage with clients.
June 19, 2026Your DJI video is almost certainly 10-bit HEVC (H.265). Windows needs a paid codec, and many chips lack hardware decode. Here's the fix.
June 19, 20263D Tiles 1.1 was ratified by the OGC in 2023. Implicit tiling, metadata, and multi-content tiles explained, and what surveyors actually need to care about.
May 18, 20263D Tiles streams massive survey scenes progressively. OBJ, GLB, and FBX are single-asset formats. Here is how they differ and when to deliver each to clients.
May 18, 2026Five splat formats compared on compression, quality and viewer support: PLY, compressed PLY, SOG, KSplat and SPZ. Which to export, and what reads each one.
May 18, 2026FARO and Leica scans arrive as huge E57 files clients can't open. How to export them with the 360° photos, send them as a browser link, and let the client measure and reply on notes.
April 17, 2026Drone surveys produce LAS point clouds, GeoTIFF orthomosaics, OBJ/GLB 3D models, DEMs, videos, and more. Every format explained with file sizes and viewers.
April 15, 2026LAS, LAZ and E57 are the three main point cloud file types, and COPC is LAZ that streams. How they compare on size, software support and 360° photos, and when to deliver each.
April 10, 2026A Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) uses internal tiling and overviews for progressive loading via HTTP range requests. How to create, use, and share COGs online.
April 7, 2026IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is the open standard for BIM data exchange. What surveyors need to know about IFC files and how to deliver them to clients.
April 2, 2026DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) is an open CAD file format from Autodesk. What is inside a DXF, how it is used in surveying, and how to view one online.
March 31, 2026A GeoTIFF is a TIFF image with embedded geospatial metadata. Here's how georeferencing works, what COGs are, and how to view and share GeoTIFFs online.
March 24, 2026Sharing 3D models with clients who lack modeling software is a common challenge. The best browser-based options for GLB, OBJ, and FBX delivery to clients.
March 15, 2025E57 is the ASTM standard format for terrestrial LiDAR point clouds and scanner imagery. What it contains, how to open it, and how to deliver it to clients.
February 25, 2025LAZ is the compressed version of LAS, the standard format for LiDAR and photogrammetry point clouds. What it contains, how to open it, and how to share it.
February 20, 2025View LAS and LAZ point clouds directly in a browser using Potree or 3D Tiles streaming. How it works and how to share point clouds with clients the same way.
January 20, 2025LAS files need specialist software most clients don't have. Your options for sharing point clouds, from Dropbox workarounds to seamless in-browser viewing.
January 15, 2025