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Cloud Assets (poles, signs, trees, hydrants from a point cloud)

The vertical stuff in a cloud: a height band above the ground, plan clusters, a PCA per cluster gated to Pole / Sign / Tree / Hydrant with editable thresholds, a density check first, a review table before any block is placed.

Command VDCCLOUDASSETS · VDC Civil tab › Terrain panel
The vertical stuff in a cloud: a height band above the ground, plan clusters, a PCA per cluster gated to Pole / Sign / Tree / Hydrant with editable thresholds, a density check first, a review table before any block is placed.
band above ground → plan clusters → PCA (linear / planar / scatter / vertical) → gates → review → blocks at ground Z + CSV ground reference (TIN or the cloud's ground grid) band 1–40 ft above ground Pole linear 0.97 vertical 0.99 Sign planar 0.7 thin Hydrant 1.5–4.5 ft, small Tree scatter 0.4 wide Place CLASS H(ft) FOOT CONF [x] Pole 28.4 0.8 0.94 [x] Sign 7.1 2.6 0.71 [x] Hydrant 2.9 1.4 0.83 [x] Tree 22.0 14.2 0.88 [ ] Unknown 5.5 3.9 0.31 OK → blocks at ground Z + CSV density 23 pts/m2 → WARN: signs / hydrants will not classify Attributes: VDC_CLASS, VDC_HEIGHT, VDC_DIAM, VDC_CONF, VDC_SOURCE · layer V-CLOUD-ASSETS Base Z = the ground reference at the cluster XY, never the lowest return. Nothing is placed until you accept it.
Pole   Sign   Hydrant   Tree

What it does

  • Band + clusters: 1–40 ft above the ground reference, 1 ft plan bins, ≥ 15 points; each cluster measured and run through a PCA.
  • Gates (editable): Pole tall / thin / linear / vertical; Sign 4–14 ft planar thin; Hydrant 1.5–4.5 ft small; Tree tall wide scattered; else Unknown. Confidence per verdict.
  • Review then place: per-row accept; blocks from your name map with five attributes; CSV of every cluster, accepted or not.

Watch for

  • Under ~50 pts/m² signs and hydrants will not classify, the tool warns up front.
  • Use the TIN as ground when you have one; the cloud's ground grid can sit on a car roof.
  • Two poles inside one bin merge; a sign on a pole classifies as the pole. It is a classifier's guess, the CSV keeps the numbers.

Dialog

Cloud Assets (poles, signs, trees, hydrants from a point cloud) dialog
Cloud Assets (poles, signs, trees, hydrants from a point cloud), VDCCLOUDASSETS
Cloud Assets (poles, signs, trees, hydrants from a point cloud) dialog
Cloud Assets (poles, signs, trees, hydrants from a point cloud), VDCCLOUDASSETS
Settings file: %APPDATA%\VDC\CloudAssets\settings.json

When to use it

  • A drone / mobile-scan cloud has to become an existing-conditions plan with the poles and hydrants shown.
  • A count of signs and trees along a corridor from the survey cloud.
  • A first pass at the topo's point features before the field crew ties the ones that matter.

How to run it

  1. Run VDCCLOUDASSETS; pick the LAS (blank = browse after OK); read a window or the whole file; choose the ground reference.
  2. Check the thresholds and the block per class (blank Unknown = not placed); set the layer; OK.
  3. Pick the window on screen; read the density note in the review table's heading.
  4. Tick the rows to place (rows at or above the confidence you set are pre-checked); OK places the blocks and writes the CSV.
  5. Re-run with Replace on to redo the same file; Clear erases every block earlier runs placed.

Options

  • Band: 1-40 ft above ground by default - the low edge drops grass and cars, the high edge drops canopy over a road.
  • Cluster bin / min points: 1 ft plan bins, 15 points minimum - raise the minimum on dense scanner clouds.
  • Gates: pole = tall, thin, linear, vertical; sign = short-to-medium, planar, thin; hydrant = 1.5-4.5 ft, small footprint; tree = tall, wide, scattered; everything else Unknown.
  • Blocks by class: your block names (created as simple attributed symbols when missing); attributes carry class, height, footprint, confidence and source file.
  • Confidence pre-check: 0.5 by default - rows below it are listed but unticked.

Watch out for

  • The density warning is real: a 20-pts/m2 aerial flight finds poles and trees, not signs or hydrants.
  • Ground reference matters - use the TIN when you have one; the cloud's own ground grid is the lowest return per cell and can sit on a car roof in a parking lot.
  • Two poles closer than the cluster bin merge into one cluster; a sign on a pole classifies as the pole.
  • Everything here is a classifier's guess - the CSV keeps the measurements so a reviewer can argue with it.

Related: Cloud Slice (Point-Cloud Slabs to Linework) · Ground Thin (Lidar to Ground Shots) · Code Leader