Thread by @BernhardHofle

How to combine Virtual Laser Scanning (#VLS) and Open Government Data (#OGD) of @swisstopo? A thread on how the #OpenSource HELIOS++ laser scanning simulator can be used to scan #Säntis 🇨🇭(2502m) and test different scan strategies or generate training data for #MachineLearning.

With the #OGD step, @swisstopo is making large volumes of high quality geodata freely accessible. We are most excited about the 3D data, which includes digital surface models (DSM), digital terrain models (DTM) and classified 3D laser point clouds!

As believe that the combination of #OpenData and #OpenSource software is a key element to promote more transparent, inclusive and effective research, we thought to ourselves: Let’s combine @swisstopo #OpenData and our own #OpenSource software HELIOS++.

HELIOS++ is a general-purpose software package for simulation of laser scanning campaigns, developed and maintained by the 3DGeo Research Group of @UniHeidelberg #3DGeo. uni-heidelberg.de/helios

Although the exact acquisition settings of the airborne laser scanning campaign are not known to us, we can configure a simulation that comes reasonably close to the real acquisition.

Such data can be used to complement real data in many use cases, e.g. include the generation of training data for #MachineLearning, especially #DeepLearning, for the validation of algorithms working on point clouds, for acquisition parameter surveys, or for test of novel sensors.

Download the Säntis HELIOS++ survey (until 1st April 2021) and reproduce it yourself using HELIOS++ with the command or use your own #Python pyhelios script:

run\helios data\surveys\demo\swisstopo_demo.xml –lasOutput

Data: heibox.uni-heidelberg.de/f/e629d5528360…

Detailed documentation and download of HELIOS++ can be found in the #GitHub wiki github.com/3dgeo-heidelbe…. Our scientific paper on HELIOS++ is available as a #preprint on arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2101.09154

Big thanks to @HannahWe8 for compiling this cool first VLS campaign of my #Homeview mountain.

Blog story of this thread: k1z.blog.uni-heidelberg.de/2021/03/03/ope…

#Säntis