Neara makes it easy to import LiDAR data from your computer – or directly from connected cloud storage – using the the Importer tab.

To open the Importer tab, select Project / Import from LiDAR from the menu:

The Importer tab will be added to the project workspace. You may find it useful to move or dock the tab onto the side of your workspace:

The Importer supports upload of LiDAR data in .las, .laz, and .txt format files from either:

See Importing LiDAR data in text file format

Select the Local storage tab, click to browse and select - or drag and drop - one or more LiDAR data files from your device into the box. After the files are uploaded they will appear in the Selected files list.

If the LiDAR data files have embedded spatial references, Neara will automatically capture and display them. If they don't, which is the case in this example, a warning will be displayed:

You can manually set (or override) the spatial reference for all the Selected Files by entering an EPSG code in the Dataset spatial reference input box and pressing ENTER:

Neara will automatically show a 3D preview of the data from the LiDAR for the selected files in the Perspective tab:

You can adjust how point clouds from LiDAR is previewed in the View menu:

Before importing files from your local device, you can view the number of points in the LiDAR data by classification code under the Advanced Options section of the Importer tab:

If you have cloud storage connected to your Neara account, folders in it will appear under the Cloud storage tab.

You may have access to multiple cloud storage locations, depending on your configuration. Each will be shown in the list:

Place a checkmark next to each folder that contains the LiDAR data files to be imported.

If there is a problem accessing the contents of a cloud storage location, a warning icon will appear next to it after you have clicked on it - if this occurs contact our Customer Success team for assistance with updating your cloud storage configurations:

Once the files have been retrieved from the selected cloud locations, they will be added to the Selected files list.

LiDAR data in files imported from cloud storage is previewed in a slightly different way to that uploaded from a local device. To preview LiDAR data from files selected from cloud storage, select the Show location on map option:

The Analytics Map tab will open and display a region that contains polygons showing the LiDAR data's geographic bounds for each of the selected files. If you have selected a lot of files, or they represent captures over a large area, you may need to zoom in to see each polygon.

To quickly zoom in on a polygon for a specific file, click the Show location icon to the left of the file name in the selected files list:

Once the LiDAR data has been imported and processed into a Point Cloud Dataset in the next step, you will be able to preview it in the Perspective view, before running classification.

To remove files from the Selected files list, click the Clear button at the bottom of the Importer tab.

The import process will create a new dataset in your Neara project using the LiDAR data from the selected files.

The new dataset's name is automatically suggested from the name of the first LiDAR file in the selected files list. It can be manually changed if required in the Dataset name field.

If the selected files have spatial references, the new dataset's spatial reference is automatically set with the EPSG code detected in the first file processed, and if necessary you can change it in the Dataset spatial reference field:

In the Advanced options section of the tab you can preview or modify the point cloud classification mappings before completing the import process.

For convenience you can copy/paste existing mappings to and from Excel by clicking the Paste mappings to/from Excel option at the bottom of the tab.

Unlike import from a file uploaded from your local device, when you select a file to import from a cloud storage bucket Neara does not display the number of points for each classification code in the imported file until after the data has been imported:

When ready, click the Import button to begin the import process and create the new Dataset in your project from the selected files. Import progress for the new dataset is displayed in the Point Clouds section of the Layers tab:

During import, the progress bar on the Layers tab will display different colors:

To cancel an import, hover over the dataset's progress bar on the Layers tab and click the Cancel (x) icon. You will be prompted to confirm the cancellation:

Once the import is complete and the LiDAR data has been converted into a Neara point cloud dataset, you can rename that dataset on the Layers tab for easier future reference. Click the action (…) menu to the right of the dataset's name and select Rename layer:

Once the import is complete you can preview the point cloud in the dataset.

First, click the Toggle map vizualisation icon to the left of the dataset's name in the Layers tab:

Polygons indicating the area containing point cloud data are shown on the Analytics Map tab:

Right-click a polygon, and select Jump to location on the popup menu:

The location will load into the Perspective view automatically.

For performance reasons, Neara does not normally automatically load dataset contents into the Perspective view.

If you do not see the LiDAR data in the Perspective view after jumping to the polygon's location, use the Datasets tool to manually load it - click the Datasets tool on the toolbar and then click on an area in the Perspective view to load dataset data into that area:

When the Datasets tool is active, you can modify the size of the area loaded with the Load Radius option in the Properties tab:

You're now ready to automatically classify the imported LiDAR.