pts - Laser scan plain data format

Compiled by Paul Bourke
October 2014


A pts file is a simple text file used to store point data typically from LIDAR scanners. The first line gives the number of points to follow. Each subsequent line has 7 values, the first three are the (x,y,z) coordinates of the point, the fourth is an "intensity" value, and the last three are the (r,g,b) colour estimates. The (r,g,b) values range from 0 to 255 (single unsigned byte). The intensity value is an estimate of the fraction of incident radiation reflected by the surface at that point, 0 indicates is a very poor return while 255 is a very stong return.

Example

253730194 
-0.41025 -2.0806 8.00981 55 52 44 65
-0.63016 -1.84527 6.59447 228 228 230 225
-0.4766 -2.14446 7.91288 60 56 54 68
-0.52017 -1.51698 7.91458 60 58 50 71
-0.626 -2.46051 7.35187 152 140 160 161
-0.62371 -1.53502 7.46876 168 163 175 175
-0.62829 -2.27286 6.34905 208 204 213 212
-0.62614 -2.48739 7.36484 151 144 155 159
    :        :        :
    :        :        :
    :        :        :