Bentley Pointools POD Reader/Writer

FME can read and write data in the Pointools POD (POint Database) format. POD files are the proprietary file type directly loaded by Pointools applications.

A POD file consists of:

• File version and basic structure
• Extended metadata
• Point cloud structure
• Point cloud channels

A single POD file contains a point cloud scene which contains one or more point clouds composed of at least a geometry channel and optionally intensity, RGB, classification, and normal data channels.

Bentley Pointools POD Format Product and System Requirements

Format	FME Platform			Operating System
Reader/Writer	FME Form	FME Flow	FME Flow Hosted	Windows 64-bit	Linux	Mac
Reader Requires an installed, licensed Pointools application (version 1.x, 2.x).	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Writer	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No

Reader Overview

FME considers a single POD file to be a dataset. Each dataset contains one or more point cloud features.

Reading requires an installed, licensed Pointools application (version 1.x, 2.x).

Writer Overview

FME considers a dataset to be a folder name. The feature type of each dataset is the filename.

About Point Clouds

A point cloud is a type of geometry that is useful for storing large amounts of data, typically gathered from LIDAR applications. The use of LIDAR allows for fast and accurate collection of data, such as for forestry canopy measurements, or landscape modeling.

Point cloud geometry allows for quick and efficient processing of a large collection of vertices in 3D space that represent the external surfaces of objects. Together, these vertices form a model which can be transformed, and visualized. Some operations of the point cloud geometry involve thinning, splitting, and combining to produce a more useable set of vertices. This is an example point cloud image:

Associated with each vertex are a number of properties called components, which contain a value that describes the point.

These component values can be used to classify different sections of the collection of points contained in the point cloud geometry.

All components have a name and type. Possible component types are Real64, Real32, UInt64, UInt32, UInt16, UInt8, Int64, Int32, Int16, Int8, and String. Numeric components additionally may have a scale and offset factor; in such cases, the applied value of the component will be value x scale + offset. String components additionally may have an encoding.

While components may have any name, there are a few common components that exist in several formats. These components are described in the following table.

Component Name	Description
x	The x component of the geometry.
y	The y component of the geometry.
z	The z component of the geometry.
intensity	The magnitude of the intensity of the pulse return.
color_red	The red image channel value of the object at the point.
color_green	The green image channel value of the object at the point.
color_blue	The blue image channel value of the object at the point.
classification	The class of the point. Categorizes a point into fields, such as ground, building, water, etc. Values correspond to the ASPRS LAS specification.
return	The pulse return number for a given output pulse.
number_of_returns	The total number of detected returns from a single pulse.
gps_time	The number of seconds since the beginning of the week.
gps_week	The week number, counting from January 6th, 1980.
angle	The angle of the pulse that the point was scanned at.
flight_ line	The flight line number the point was detected in.
flight_line_edge	Specifies whether this point lies on the edge of the scan, along the flight line.
scan_ direction	The direction in which a scanning mirror was directed when the point was detected.
point_source_id	A value that indicates the source of the file, for example a file number.
posix_time	Used to express the time, as the number of seconds elapsed since UTC January 1st, 1970.
user_data	The user data value is for the user to use.