v.in.pdal(1)

✨ v.in.pdal ✨

okay bestie so this is the v.in.pdal manual page from the GRASS GIS User's Manual — it's the one that turns your LiDAR point clouds into a GRASS vector map using PDAL 🦋

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🌸 NAME 🌸

v.in.pdal — converts LAS LiDAR point clouds to a GRASS vector map with PDAL. periodt 💅

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🎀 KEYWORDS 🎀

vector, import, LIDAR

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

v.in.pdal
v.in.pdal --help
v.in.pdal [-wocr] input=name output=name  [id_layer=string]
[return_layer=string]   [class_layer=string]   [rgb_layer=string]
[spatial=xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax]   [zrange=min,max]
[return_filter=string]   [class_filter=integer[,integer,...]]
[input_srs=string]   [--overwrite]  [--help]  [--verbose]  [--quiet]
[--ui]

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🚩 Flags 🚩

• -w — Reproject to projects's coordinate system if needed. Basically: it reprojects your input dataset into the coordinate system of the GRASS project, because by default only datasets with the matching coordinate system can be imported. no cap 🔥
• -o — Override projection check (use current project's CRS). This one just assumes the dataset has the same coordinate reference system as the current project. bold of you but okay 💀
• -c — Do not automatically add unique ID as category to each point. It creates only the requested layers and categories, nothing extra ✨
• -r — Limit import to the current region. stay in your lane bestie 🌸
• --overwrite — Allow output files to overwrite existing files
• --help — Print usage summary
• --verbose — Verbose module output
• --quiet — Quiet module output
• --ui — Force launching GUI dialog

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🧚 Parameters 🧚

• input=name [required] — LAS input file. These are your LiDAR input files in LAS format (*.las or *.laz) 💜
• output=name [required] — Name for output vector map
• id_layer=string — Layer number to store generated point ID as category. Set to 1 by default, and use -c if you don't want it stored at all 🙈
• return_layer=string — Layer number to store return information as category. Leave empty to not store it.
• class_layer=string — Layer number to store class number as category. Leave empty to not store it.
• rgb_layer=string — Layer number where RBG colors are stored as category. Leave empty to not store it.
• spatial=xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax — Import subregion only. Format: xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax — usually W,S,E,N 🗺️
• zrange=min,max — Filter range for z data (min,max)
• return_filter=string — Only import points of selected return type. If not specified, all points are imported. Options: first, last, mid
• class_filter=integer[,integer,...] — Only import points of selected class(es). Input is comma separated integers. If not specified, all points are imported.
• input_srs=string — Input dataset projection (WKT or EPSG, e.g. EPSG:4326). Override input dataset coordinate system using EPSG code or WKT definition ✨

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So what it does: it imports a point cloud (e.g. from a LAS file) as vector points, using the PDAL library. iconic behavior honestly 👑

v.in.pdal supports the following filters:

• 2D region filter
• Z coordinates filter
• return filter
• class filter

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Import only XYZ coordinates of points, limit the import to the current computational region and reproject to the current project's coordinate reference system during the import:

v.in.pdal input=points.las output=points -c -r -w

look at her go 🫶

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📚 REFERENCES 📚

• V. Petras, A. Petrasova, J. Jeziorska, H. Mitasova (2016): Processing UAV and lidar point clouds in GRASS GIS. XXIII ISPRS Congress 2016 [ISPRS Archives, ResearchGate]

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

r.in.pdal, g.region, v.vect.stats, v.in.ogr

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💅 AUTHOR 💅

Vaclav Petras, NCSU GeoForAll Lab

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⭐ SOURCE CODE ⭐

Available at: v.in.pdal source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:41:27 2026

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© 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual

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ok that's the whole thing bestie, no notes 💖 this page is from GRASS GIS 8.4.2 (the GRASS 8.4.2 Reference Manual), © 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, and you were reading it on Saturday Jan 17 05:41:27 2026. slay, go import some point clouds 🎀✨🦋