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  1. I'm using Ubuntu Linux and have installed QGIS 3.22 which has native support for LAS files. I think that LAStools is for MS Windows only?
  2. I can load the LAS data and see a pretty image.
  3. Next, I want to use the ground classified spot heights to make a Digital Elevation Model, e.g. this procedure which requires a shapefile.
  4. Is there some way to extract ground classified XYZ from the LAS and save that as a shapefile? Or is there some other way to create a DEM? This is looking too difficult for me.
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  • Did you try the Las2dem tool in QGIS ? Depending on your study area you will either need to use the Las2demPro or to split your dataset !
    – wanderzen
    Commented May 30, 2023 at 12:15
  • Welcome to GIS SE. As a new user, please take the Tour, which emphasizes the importance of asking One question per Question. We're a problem-solving site, so you need to provide sufficient details that that problem could be reproduced and a fix offered.
    – Vince
    Commented May 30, 2023 at 12:38
  • Does this answer your question? Creating DEM from LAS file without using LAStools?
    – GBG
    Commented May 30, 2023 at 14:58
  • It appears that both LAStools and Fusion are Windows only. I think that I shall copy my data to a Windows machine, install LAStools and do my processing in Windows.
    – stweb
    Commented May 31, 2023 at 2:14
  • Oh, LAStools is not free.
    – stweb
    Commented May 31, 2023 at 2:20

1 Answer 1

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  1. I installed PDAL (Point Data Abstraction Library). PDAL is free, open source and includes lots of modern tools for point cloud data. PDAL is run from a terminal, which makes it fast (large datasets are difficult in QGIS).
  2. I followed the instructions here for creating a DEM and, with reference to the PDAL website, I quickly learned how to write the JSON 'pipelines' (scripts). PDAL also has filters for Delaunay triangulation and interpolation of that output (in more recent versions).

I recommend PDAL for processing point cloud data.

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