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3D point cloud

A point cloud is your site rebuilt in three dimensions. Millions of points, each with a real-world position and the colour it had in the photos. Together they form a measurable 3D copy of the scene.

This is what 3D mapping means in practice. You fly an ordinary camera drone, and the result is a point cloud map you can rotate, section and measure in the browser.

Download format: LAZ, the compressed form of the standard LAS point cloud format. The viewer also reports the total point count, for example 127.2 million points.

3D point cloud of a city district in the MapperTool browser viewer

No extra sensor needed​

The point cloud is reconstructed from the same photos as your other outputs, so an ordinary RGB camera is enough. Point density follows the quality level you select.

Tip

For a good 3D model, fly oblique or crosshatch passes as well as the nadir grid. Vertical surfaces are barely visible from straight above. See flight basics.

What it is used for​

  • True 3D inspection. Facades, slopes, undersides and structures a top-down map cannot show.
  • As-built documentation. A dimensionally faithful record at a point in time.
  • Volume and cross-section work in your own software.
  • Client-facing 3D. Anyone with a share link can explore it in a browser.

It also opens directly in the 3D viewer, so you can check it before downloading.