Advancing Point Cloud Processing Skills with Blue Marble Geographics’ Online Classroom

Blue Marble Geographics’ Online Classroom, a self-paced training platform for geospatial professionals, enables users to develop practical skills in Global Mapper and Geographic Calculator through step-by-step sample workflow instructions, real-world datasets, and certification opportunities.

Designed for professionals balancing tight deadlines and fieldwork, the platform provides a flexible learning environment that can be accessed from a desk or home office. The Online Classroom offers a growing library of both introductory and advanced courses, allowing users to explore specific Global Mapper and Geographic Calculator workflows in detail while building proficiency at their own pace.

The course library has been expanded with two additional offerings focused on point cloud processing in Global Mapper, supporting workflows for aerial lidar, terrestrial scans, and photogrammetric point cloud datasets.

Fundamentals of Point Cloud Processing

This course establishes foundational knowledge for point cloud workflows in Global Mapper, following a structured progression from data import through to final surface product generation. Initial modules introduce visualization options for inspecting point cloud data, followed by quality control workflows that compare datasets against surveyed control and address common alignment issues.

Data management techniques are then presented, including filtering various types of noise, spatial cropping, and 3D thinning methods to improve efficiency when working with dense datasets. The course places emphasis on preparing data for analysis, with detailed guidance on configuring Automatic Noise and Ground Classification settings that can be adapted for different terrain types. Manual classification tools are also included to refine results where necessary.

The final stages focus on creating exportable terrain surfaces from classified data, including automatic identification of Model Key Points for TIN surface generation, as well as gridding methods used to produce raster Digital Terrain Models.

This course is intended for land surveyors, civil engineers, and construction professionals who need to convert raw point cloud data into reliable topographic surfaces for site planning.

Advanced Point Cloud Processing

The advanced course focuses on feature identification, vector data extraction, and processing of large or specialized point cloud datasets. It introduces automated workflows across three primary categories: buildings, utilities, and vegetation, including extraction of building footprints and 3D roof planes, utility poles and lines for powerline corridor management, and representative tree points with canopy coverage polygons.

Additional modules explore refinement of segmentation settings and the development of custom classification models, enabling users to identify non-standard objects based on geometric properties. The course also includes workflows for multispectral lidar data and combined bathymetric lidar and sonar datasets within Global Mapper.

Guidance is provided for processing large volumes of data, along with an introduction to scripting for automating common point cloud routines. Unlike the structured progression of the Fundamentals course, this advanced training is organized into distinct modules, allowing users to prioritize topics based on specific industry requirements.

This course is suited to professionals working in forestry, utilities, urban planning, hydrography, agriculture, or any application requiring advanced feature classification and extraction from point cloud data.

To find out more, visit the Blue Marble Geographics website.