Mach9’s Digital Surveyor uses mobile LiDAR point cloud, trajectory and the associated 360 degree and directional images to perform automated feature extraction to create CAD/GIS outputs.

Digital Surveyor can use generic E57 export formats to intake data. This document serves as a guideline to structure your export folder to help facilitate smooth uploads. As each mobile mapping software can have variations in its data structures, please contact customersupport@mach9.ai with any issues.

Prior to exporting data, make sure your trajectory is processed and cameras are well calibrated.

Next, create an empty export folder to export your data:

The export folder name can be arbitrary, in this case we named it “Project Export”.

All E57 exports provided to Mach9 must contain image information, ideally in the form of panoramic images. The specific way to export E57 with images can vary from software to software but the export can be verified in pointcloud software such as CloudCompare. An example is shown below where the images are stored within the E57 file:

Once your E57 export has been confirmed to contain images, place the E57 all into the Project Export folder prepared in Step 1. The specific organization method does not matter for the E57 files. You can place them all together into the main folder:

Or the files can be placed in subfolders if that is your typical export workflow:

It is not required for files to be properly georeferenced but it is highly recommended. This allows for datasets to be properly located within our platform for QA and visualization. If your data does not have a CRS associated with it then you can skip this step.

The coordinate information for the E57 export must be provided to us explicitly using a WKT string. You can download a WKT string at https://spatialreference.org/. After navigating to your project coordinate system, select the “OGC WKT” option and then copy the contents into a text file named “wkt_override.txt”. This file is case and spelling sensitive. Then place it within the along with the laser files like so:

We ask that you compress the export folders and their contents into split compressed files no more than 10 GB each. You can use any of the following formats:

Not every compression tool will create split archives. One free software we use for this is 7-zip. It is available at www.7-zip.org. This video (credit to GEEKrar Guides) walks you through the entire process of using 7-zip to create split archives.

Right click the export folder and click 7-Zip > Add to archive…

Configure the export setting as shown below:

Navigate to your target upload folder and select Upload > Mobile LiDAR data

Input a name for your dataset and then select Generic E57from the dropdown menu. Add your email to be notified when uploading is complete.

Click Chose files and use multiselect to chose all the zip files to upload.

Verify your uploaded files and click Upload

If you need any help during this process, please contact Mach9 Customer Support at customersupport@mach9.io.