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Hi, I've a got point layer in shp format and a pointcloud file in las format and I'd like to find the nearest point in the las file for every point in shp file. I tried to use PointCloudCoercer to change las file into mutipoint, but z value of points won't be merged. Then I tried to change las file into individual points, but it was too slow, I got thousands of las files and each of them contains over 1 million points.

Can anyone provide a right and fast solution to this matter? Thank you!

@takashi @jdh @danatsafe @mark2atsafe

If you have a limited amount of points in the shape file, you could buffer them using a Bufferer and then clip the pointcloud using the Clipper.

This will limit the pointcloud data to only use those points near a shape point.

Then use your approach with the PointCloudCoercer and NeighborFinder to find the exact closest point.

Hope this helps.


@bobo Keep in mind that the NeighborFinder returns distances in only 2D.


@bobo Keep in mind that the NeighborFinder returns distances in only 2D.

Yeah, the points in the shp file are 2D, I only need to find the nearest point in the las file at projection position. But since you brought it up, is there a transformer could perform like NeighborFinder in 3D?


If you have a limited amount of points in the shape file, you could buffer them using a Bufferer and then clip the pointcloud using the Clipper.

This will limit the pointcloud data to only use those points near a shape point.

Then use your approach with the PointCloudCoercer and NeighborFinder to find the exact closest point.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, got it work. How silly am I, I thought that Clipper can only used for vector or raster files.


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