HydroLiDAR: A open source GIS towards accessing, visualization and modeling of LiDAR

With recent improvements in equipment, reductions in costs, and the advent of massive data storage and sharing systems for Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, the need has increased for open source geographic information systems to support LiDAR point cloud data . This study presents an approach and initial open source GIS tool for accessing, processing, visualizing and modeling LiDAR data. Based on the open source GIS software foundation platform, DotSpatial, a software prototype, HydroLiDAR, has been designed for importing and visualization of LiDAR data in the format of LAS files. Terrain parameters such as slope and aspect are calculated through a point-based algorithm and a visualization scheme will be discussed for 2 dimensional visualization of terrain characteristics. Watershed analysis including stream network delineation modeled directly based on the point cloud through an up-climbing and downhill-decline algorithm will also be presented in this study.