Overview
The Details Panel appears on the right display bar by default when Digital Surveyor’s viewer is first opened or when no features are selected. When a feature is selected, it will be replaced by the Feature Properties panel.
The Details Panel holds general settings such as controlling the background map, point cloud appearance settings, overlay toggles and access back to the Dataset screen.
It is important to note that all but the point cloud buttons at the bottom of the panel are also accessible under the Display Settings monitor icon in the top right menu button bar within the view screen.
Globe Setting
Globe Settings allows users to place an online sourced background image from the provided drop-down list behind their georeferenced datasets. The opacity can also be controlled as well as toggling it on and off with the eye icon to the right.
Point Cloud Settings
Point Cloud Settings change the appearance of the data within the viewer. Users have the ability to change the coloring template, adjust the intensity ranges, change point sizing and opacity.
Coloring Templates
The coloring templates are preloaded options provided by Mach9, ranging from viewing any RGB information that may be stored in the point data to grey scale intensity to contours colored based off of elevation levels.
Intensity Range
Intensity settings are adjustable to allow a user to fine tune the coloring to best fit their system. This can allow for the most detail to appear through for the color template the user prefers to work in.
A minimum and maximum value can be entered manually or the slide bar can used to adjust until it is visually appealing.
Point Size
Point size affects how large the circle for every point will appear in view. A small value may make data appear sparse, while a large number could make data appear noisy with detail lost. We recommend using a size of 2 pixels in most cases, while 3 or 4 works better in cross section view and working in highway datasets.
A value for point size can be entered in manually or a user can left click hold + drag left or right to adjust the value as a slide bar.
Opacity
Opacity affects the visibility of the points versus other features in view. The option is only available for points when the point sizing is 2 pixels or larger. This is a common setting throughout other tools in Digital Surveyor, such as with the Base Map and when viewing imagery overlays.
A value for opacity can be entered in manually or a user can left click hold + drag left or right to adjust the value as a slide bar.
Point Cloud Filters
In addition to the above, there are five additional point filtering options that are available to help users while drafting and performing QA tasks with their lidar data. These are located in a drop down under the point coloring options.
The point filters available to use are as follows:
Filter | Use |
All | Shows all points in the uploaded point cloud |
Ground | A basic ground clipping plane generated during automation |
Above Ground | Everything above the ground plane |
Selected | When selecting an object, only points around the object will be shown |
Z Slice | Show only points within a specific height range |
Z Slice’s clipping range can be adjusted via the settings icon next to the point size setting.
Overlays
Overlays are additional items that can be viewed with a projects point cloud data. They fall into a unique category because they are not always associated with just a single Survey so they do not show up on the Layers Panel on the left side. These items can all be toggled on or off as needed.
Overlay | Use |
Measurements | Measurements that have been completed using the measure tools in the bottom toolbar |
Stencils | Any existing cross sections along a line |
Trajectory | The trajectory information - Users can click along it to pull up imagery (if available) |
Object Pins | Icons placed over any feature object to help them stand out in the dataset |
Point Clouds
At the bottom of the menu contents will be the point cloud name listed. Next to it are two icons. The pin icon will provide a Fly to the extents of the dataset. This is helpful if a user is lost in navigation. The folder icon will open the Dataset details page in a new web browser tab.
