v.in.pdal(1)

📦
version 8.4.2 · 4 versions
, in fedora 44

💖 v.in.pdal — the GRASS GIS User's Manual glow-up ✨

okay bestie, so this is v.in.pdal from the GRASS GIS User's Manual and it's literally the module that takes your LAS LiDAR point clouds and turns them into a GRASS vector map with PDAL. no cap. 🦋

KEYWORDS: vector, import, LIDAR 👑

🌸 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]

🎀 Flags 🎀

  • -w — Reproject to projects's coordinate system if needed. like, it reprojects your input dataset into the coordinate system of the GRASS project. and btw, by default only datasets with the matching coordinate system can even be imported, so this is the "make it work anyway" flag 💅
  • -o — Override projection check (use current project's CRS). it 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, no extras.
  • -r — Limit import to the current region. yes bestie, the region you set with g.region 🎯
  • --overwrite — Allow output files to overwrite existing files. dangerous girlboss behavior, be careful 😭
  • --help — Print usage summary
  • --verbose — Verbose module output
  • --quiet — Quiet module output
  • --ui — Force launching GUI dialog

🌈 Parameters 🌈

  • input=name [required] — LAS input file. it's your LiDAR input files in LAS format, so *.las or *.laz 💖
  • output=name [required] — Name for output vector map
  • id_layer=string — Layer number to store generated point ID as category. it's 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 it empty to not store it 🍓
  • class_layer=string — Layer number to store class number as category. leave it empty to not store it 🍓
  • rgb_layer=string — Layer number where RBG colors are stored as category. leave it empty to not store it 🍓
  • spatial=xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax — Import subregion only. format is xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax — and usually that's W,S,E,N just fyi 🧚
  • zrange=min,max — Filter range for z data (min,max)
  • return_filter=string — Only import points of selected return type. if you don't specify it, all points get imported. options are: 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, periodt. 💅
  • input_srs=string — Input dataset projection (WKT or EPSG, e.g. EPSG:4326). it overrides the input dataset coordinate system using an EPSG code or WKT definition 🔥

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So what it does is it imports a point cloud (like, e.g. from a LAS file) as vector points with the PDAL library. and bestie, v.in.pdal supports the following filters:

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

that's it that's the list, all four, iconic 🦋

💜 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

like look at that. three little flags doing so much. main character energy fr fr 🌟

📚 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]

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

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

go read those too, iykyk 💅

🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

Vaclav Petras, NCSU GeoForAll Lab

🌟 SOURCE CODE 🌟

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

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:41:27 2026

Main index | Vector index | Topics index | Keywords index | Graphical index | Full index

okay that's the whole page bestie, you're literally a LiDAR girlie now 💖

and that's a wrap!! this is GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual, © 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, accessed Saturday Jan 17 05:41:27 2026 — slay, go import some point clouds, you got this 🎀✨

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