Question

On the following code its possible to import part of the LAS files version 1.1 with those properties:

List. Item Format Size Required

1. X long 4 bytes *
2. Y long 4 bytes *
3. Z long 4 bytes *
4. intensity unsigned short 2 bytes
5. Return Number 3 bits (bits 0, 1, 2) 3 bits *
6. Number of Returns (given pulse) 3 bits (bits 3, 4, 5) 3 bits *
7. Scan Direction Flag 1 bit (bit 6) 1 bit *
8. Edge of Flight Line 1 bit (bit 7) 1 bit *
9. Classification unsigned char 1 byte *
10. Scan Angle Rank (-90 to +90) – Left side unsigned char 1 byte *
11. User Data unsigned char 1 byte
12. Point Source ID unsigned short 2 bytes *
13. GPS Time double 8 bytes *

and return x, y, z and intensity (lines 1 to 4 of list above):

allbytes <- matrix(readBin(con, "raw", n = pointDataRecordLength * numberPointRecords, size = 1, endian = "little"),
                   ncol= pointDataRecordLength, nrow = numberPointRecords, byrow = TRUE)    
close(con)
mm <- matrix(readBin(t(allbytes[,1:(3*4)]), "integer", size = 4, n = 3 * numberPointRecords, endian = "little"), ncol = 3, byrow = TRUE)

mm[,1] <- mm[ ,1] * xyzScaleOffset[1,1] + xyzScaleOffset[1, 2]
mm[,2] <- mm[ ,2] * xyzScaleOffset[2,1] + xyzScaleOffset[2, 2]
mm[,3] <- mm[ ,3] * xyzScaleOffset[3,1] + xyzScaleOffset[3, 2]
colnames(mm) <- c("x", "y", "z")

intensity <- readBin(t(allbytes[, 13:14]), "double", size = 2, n = numberPointRecords, signed = FALSE, endian = "little")

I would like to extend the code to read also the “return number” and the “number of return” (line 5 and 6 of table). What i’m doing wrong?

returnNumber <- readBin(t(allbytes[, 15]), "integer", size = 1, n = numberPointRecords, signed = FALSE, endian = "little")

The expected return should be integers between 1 and 5. Thanks in advance!

Example file:

link

full code:

    publicHeaderDescription <- function() {
  hd <- structure(list(Item = c("File Signature (\"LASF\")",
                                "(1.1) File Source ID", "(1.1) Global Encoding",
                                "(1.1) Project ID - GUID data 1", "(1.1) Project ID - GUID data 2",
                                "(1.1) Project ID - GUID data 3", "(1.1) Project ID - GUID data 4",
                                "Version Major", "Version Minor", "(1.1) System Identifier",
                                "Generating Software", "(1.1) File Creation Day of Year",
                                "(1.1) File Creation Year", "Header Size", "Offset to point data",
                                "Number of variable length records",
                                "Point Data Format ID (0-99 for spec)", "Point Data Record Length",
                                "Number of point records", "Number of points by return",
                                "X scale factor", "Y scale factor", "Z scale factor", "X offset",
                                "Y offset", "Z offset", "Max X", "Min X", "Max Y", "Min Y", "Max Z",
                                "Min Z"), Format = c("char[4]", "unsigned short", "unsigned short",
                                                     "unsigned long", "unsigned short", "unsigned short",
                                                     "unsigned char[8]", "unsigned char", "unsigned char", "char[32]",
                                                     "char[32]", "unsigned short", "unsigned short", "unsigned short",
                                                     "unsigned long", "unsigned long", "unsigned char", "unsigned short",
                                                     "unsigned long", "unsigned long[5]", "double", "double", "double",
                                                     "double", "double", "double", "double", "double", "double", "double",
                                                     "double", "double"), Size = c("4 bytes", "2 bytes", "2 bytes",
                                                                                   "4 bytes", "2 byte", "2 byte", "8 bytes", "1 byte", "1 byte",
                                                                                   "32 bytes", "32 bytes", "2 bytes", "2 bytes", "2 bytes", "4 bytes",
                                                                                   "4 bytes", "1 byte", "2 bytes", "4 bytes", "20 bytes", "8 bytes",
                                                                                   "8 bytes", "8 bytes", "8 bytes", "8 bytes", "8 bytes", "8 bytes",
                                                                                   "8 bytes", "8 bytes", "8 bytes", "8 bytes", "8 bytes"), Required =
                                                                                     c("*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*",
                                                                                       "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*", "*",
                                                                                       "*", "*", "*", "*", "*")), .Names = c("Item", "Format", "Size",
                                                                                                                             "Required"), row.names = 2:33, class = "data.frame")
  hd$what <- ""
  hd$what[grep("unsigned", hd$Format)] <- "integer"
  hd$what[grep("char", hd$Format)] <- "raw"
  hd$what[grep("short", hd$Format)] <- "integer"
  hd$what[grep("long", hd$Format)] <- "integer"
  hd$what[grep("double", hd$Format)] <- "numeric"
  hd$signed <- TRUE
  hd$signed[grep("unsigned", hd$Format)] <- FALSE
  ## number of values in record
  hd$n <- as.numeric(gsub("[[:alpha:][:punct:]]", "", hd$Format))
  hd$n[hd$what == "character"] <- 1
  hd$n[is.na(hd$n)] <- 1
  ## size of record
  hd$Hsize <- as.numeric(gsub("[[:alpha:]]", "", hd$Size))
  ## size of each value in record
  hd$Rsize <- hd$Hsize / hd$n
  hd$Rsize[hd$what == "raw"] <- 1
  hd$n[hd$what == "raw"] <- hd$Hsize[hd$what == "raw"]
  hd
}

readLAS <-
  function(lasfile, skip = 0, nrows = NULL, returnSP = FALSE, returnHeaderOnly = FALSE) {

    hd <- publicHeaderDescription()
    pheader <- vector("list", nrow(hd))
    names(pheader) <- hd$Item
    con <- file(lasfile, open = "rb")
    isLASFbytes <- readBin(con, "raw", size = 1, n = 4, endian = "little")
    pheader[[hd$Item[1]]] <- readBin(isLASFbytes, "character", size = 4, endian = "little")
    if (! pheader[[hd$Item[1]]] == "LASF") {
      stop("Not a valid LAS file")
    }
    for (i in 2:nrow(hd)) {
      pheader[[hd$Item[i]]] <- readBin(con, what = hd$what[i], signed = hd$signed[i], size = hd$Rsize[i], endian = "little", n = hd$n[i])
      #print(names(pheader)[i])
      #print(pheader[[hd$Item[i]]])
    }
    close(con)
    ## read the data
    numberPointRecords <- pheader[["Number of point records"]]
    offsetToPointData <- pheader[["Offset to point data"]]
    pointDataRecordLength <-pheader[["Point Data Record Length"]]
    xyzScaleOffset <- cbind(unlist(pheader[c("X scale factor", "Y scale factor", "Z scale factor")]),
                            unlist(pheader[c("X offset", "Y offset", "Z offset")]))


    if (returnHeaderOnly) return(pheader)

    con <- file(lasfile, open = "rb")
    junk <- readBin(con, "raw", size = 1, n = offsetToPointData)

    ## deal with rows to skip and max rows to be read
    if (skip > 0) {
      ## seek is unreliable on windows, or I'm using it incorrectly
      ## so we junk the bytes to skip
      junk <- readBin(con, "raw", size = 1, n = pointDataRecordLength * skip)
      numberPointRecords <- numberPointRecords - skip
      #pos <- seek(con, where = pointDataRecordLength * skip)
      # print(c(pos = seek(con), skip = skip, where = pointDataRecordLength * skip))
    }
    if (!is.null(nrows)) {
      if (numberPointRecords > nrows) numberPointRecords <- nrows
    }

    if (numberPointRecords < 1) stop("no records left to read")


    # include a loop to read just points inside the x and y coordinates

    allbytes <- matrix(readBin(con, "raw", n = pointDataRecordLength * numberPointRecords, size = 1, endian = "little"),
                       ncol= pointDataRecordLength, nrow = numberPointRecords, byrow = TRUE)


    close(con)
    mm <- matrix(readBin(t(allbytes[,1:(3*4)]), "integer", size = 4, n = 3 * numberPointRecords, endian = "little"), ncol = 3, byrow = TRUE)
    gpstime <- NULL
    if (ncol(allbytes) == 28) gpstime <- readBin(t(allbytes[ , 21:28]), "numeric", size = 8, n = numberPointRecords, endian = "little")

    intensity <- readBin(t(allbytes[, 13:14]), "double", size = 2, n = numberPointRecords, signed = FALSE, endian = "little")
    mm[,1] <- mm[ ,1] * xyzScaleOffset[1,1] + xyzScaleOffset[1, 2]
    mm[,2] <- mm[ ,2] * xyzScaleOffset[2,1] + xyzScaleOffset[2, 2]
    mm[,3] <- mm[ ,3] * xyzScaleOffset[3,1] + xyzScaleOffset[3, 2]
    colnames(mm) <- c("x", "y", "z")

    returnNumber <- readBin(t(allbytes[,15]), "integer", size = 1, n = numberPointRecords, signed = FALSE, endian = "little")
    require(bitops)


    if (returnSP) {
      require(sp)
      SpatialPoints(cbind(mm, gpstime, intensity))
    } else {
      cbind(mm, gpstime, intensity)
    }
  }

Answer 1

It’s not clear from your question that you understand that fields 5-8 are all encoded in a single byte, so you’ll need to extract the bits. Assuming the rest of your code works,

require(bitops)

fields.5.to.8 <- readBin(t(allbytes[, 15]), "integer", size = 1, n = numberPointRecords, signed = FALSE, endian = "little")

# bits 0..2: byte & 00000111
field.5 <- bitAnd(7, fields.5.to.8)
# bits 3..5: byte & 00111000 >> 3
field.6 <- bitShiftR(bitAnd(56, fields.5.to.8), 3)
# bit 6: & 0100000 >> 6
field.7 <- bitShiftR(bitAnd(fields.5.to.8, 64), 6)
# bit 7: & 1000000 >> 7 
field.8 <- bitShiftR(bitAnd(fields.5.to.8, 128), 7)