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17 posts about point cloud, 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, 2026Measure a point cloud online without CloudCompare or ReCap. Point, distance, area and height in the browser, what the accuracy badge means, and where it breaks down.
September 11, 2026The DJI Zenmuse L2 and L1 produce high-quality LAZ point clouds and GeoTIFF orthomosaics. Here's how to go from DJI Terra output to a professional client delivery.
May 19, 2026Twelve point cloud sharing platforms compared in 2026 on formats, browser viewing, measurement and price: Swyvl, ATIS.cloud, Trimble Connect, PointView, AllGiS and more.
April 21, 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, 2026LiDAR files regularly exceed 5 GB. How to compress, organize, and deliver large LAS point cloud files to clients with browser-based viewing and tracking.
April 16, 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 point cloud is a collection of millions of 3D coordinate points representing a physical space. What they are, how they're captured, and how to view.
March 17, 2026E57 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, 2025Potree is a free, open-source WebGL viewer that shows LiDAR point clouds in a browser. What it does, what it costs to run, and how to view a scan online.
February 10, 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, 2025What 3D Tiles is, why it matters for surveyors, and how the OGC streaming standard handles massive point clouds and photogrammetry models in any browser.
July 22, 2024