Appearance
Measurement Tools
Measure distances, areas, and elevation cross-sections — and read the exact coordinates of any point — directly on your point cloud. No need to download data or open external software like CloudCompare. Everything works right in the browser, and you can export your measurements to CSV or DXF.
Accessing the Tools
The measurement tools are available via the small buttons on the left side of the viewer, next to the project tree panel:
- Ruler icon — opens the measurement toolbar (distances, areas, and the point inspector)
- Terrain icon — opens the elevation profile tool
These buttons become active once your point cloud is loaded in the viewer.
Distance Measurement
How to Measure a Distance
- Click the ruler icon on the left side of the viewer. A small toolbar appears below the button with three sub-tools: Distance (ruler icon), Area (square icon), and Inspect (map-pin icon).
- Click the Distance tool.
- Click on the point cloud to place your first point.
- Click again to place additional points — a line is drawn between each consecutive pair.
- Right-click to finish the measurement.
The total distance is displayed along the line.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Backspace | Remove the last placed point |
| Escape | Cancel the current measurement entirely |
Managing Measurements
After finishing a measurement, it appears in a results list below the measurement toolbar:
- Each measurement shows its type (distance or area) and value, in your project's units (see below).
- Click on a measurement in the list to zoom the camera to it.
- Click the trash icon next to a measurement to delete it.
You can create multiple measurements — they all remain visible on the point cloud until you delete them.
Area Measurement
How to Measure an Area
- Click the ruler icon to open the measurement toolbar.
- Click the Area tool (square icon).
- Click on the point cloud to place the vertices (corners) of a polygon.
- Right-click to close the polygon and finish the measurement.
The area is displayed in your project's units (see Measurement Units below).
Tips
- Place at least 3 points to define a polygon.
- The polygon closes automatically between the last point and the first point.
- Like distance measurements, you can undo points with Backspace and cancel with Escape.
Measurement Units
Measurements follow the units of your point cloud:
| Project | Distances | Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Metric (most projects) | meters, switching to kilometers for long distances | m², switching to hectares for large areas |
| Surveyed in feet | feet, switching to miles for long distances | ft², switching to acres for large areas |
This applies to the measurement results list, the elevation profile, and the profile's corridor width options.
Point Inspector (Coordinates)
The Inspect tool answers the most basic surveying question the viewer gets asked: what are the coordinates of that point? It reads them out in your project's own coordinate system — the same coordinates your delivered Shapefile, DXF, and GeoJSON files carry.
How to Inspect a Point
- Click the ruler icon to open the measurement toolbar.
- Click the Inspect tool (map-pin icon). The cursor becomes a crosshair.
- Move the cursor over the point cloud — a live readout follows the cursor and shows the coordinates of the point beneath it. (The readout pauses while you move the camera.)
- Click a point to pin it. A marker is placed on the cloud, and a card with the point's coordinates is added below the toolbar. The card stays until you remove it.
- Press Escape to exit the tool.
You can pin as many points as you need. Each card has a trash icon to remove its point, and a Clear all points button appears once you have more than one. Switching to the Distance or Area tool exits Inspect mode (and vice versa).
What the Readout Shows
| Row | What it is |
|---|---|
| X and Y | The point's easting and northing in your project's coordinate system, in that system's own unit (meters, feet, or US survey feet — the unit is shown next to each value) |
| Elevation | The elevation from your uploaded file, in the file's own vertical unit (meters or feet) |
| Horizontal datum | The EPSG code of your project's coordinate system |
| Lat / Lon | The point's latitude and longitude (WGS84) |
The X and Y rows appear when your project has a declared coordinate system (the one selected at upload). If a project has no declared coordinate system, the readout shows latitude/longitude and elevation only — it never silently substitutes a different coordinate system.
The readout does not show a point's classification or intensity — these attributes are not readable from the streamed 3D tiles. To check a point's class, use Classification coloring mode or the elevation profile chart, where hovering a point shows its class.
Survey-Grade Accuracy
The X/Y values are not a rough client-side conversion. They are computed with a transform fitted by the same software that georeferenced your 3D tiles, so a coordinate read in the viewer matches the same point in your delivered files — including on coordinate systems where generic web conversions are off by a meter or more.
The tool also knows its own accuracy and never shows a digit it cannot back:
- The number of decimal places shown is limited to what the transform's measured accuracy supports.
- If accuracy on your coordinate system is coarser than usual, a note appears: "Coordinates accurate to a few centimetres on this coordinate system."
- If you click outside the surveyed area, the card warns: "Outside the surveyed area — coordinates are approximate here."
The elevation is the Z value from your source file, with no vertical datum conversion applied — it is whatever datum your file was delivered in.
Copying Coordinates
Click the Copy coordinates button on a pinned card to put a single plain line on the clipboard — X and Y with their unit, the EPSG code, the elevation, and latitude/longitude. It pastes cleanly into a spreadsheet, an email, or a CAD command line.
Tip: The on-screen numbers use thin spaces to group thousands for readability. If you need to paste a coordinate somewhere, use the Copy button rather than selecting the text — the copied line has no separators.
Elevation Profile
The elevation profile tool lets you draw a line across your point cloud and see a cross-section — a side view showing how the elevation changes along that line. This is especially useful for understanding terrain, verifying slopes, or inspecting infrastructure.
How to Extract a Profile
- Click the terrain icon (elevation profile button) on the left side of the viewer.
- Click a starting point on the point cloud.
- Click an ending point — a line appears between the two points.
- A profile panel opens at the bottom of the screen showing the cross-section chart.
Reading the Profile Chart
The chart shows:
- Horizontal axis — distance along the line you drew, starting from 0
- Vertical axis — elevation
- Points — each dot on the chart represents a LiDAR point within the profile corridor
Both axes use your project's units — meters for metric projects, feet for projects surveyed in feet.
The points are colored according to your current visualization mode:
- In Classification mode, points are colored by class (ground in brown, vegetation in green, buildings in red, etc.)
- In Elevation mode, points follow the elevation color gradient
- In Intensity mode, points are shown in grayscale
- In RGB mode, points show their original colors
Hover over any point in the chart to see a tooltip with its exact distance, elevation, and classification class.
Profile Header Information
At the top of the profile panel, you will see:
- Total number of points included in the profile
- Total distance of the profile line
Corridor Width
The profile does not capture just the points directly under the line — it captures all points within a corridor (a band of a certain width centered on the line). You can adjust the corridor width using the dropdown in the profile panel:
Metric projects: 10 cm, 20 cm, 50 cm, 1 m, 2 m, 5 m, 10 m, 20 m
Projects surveyed in feet: 3 in, 6 in, 1 ft, 2 ft, 5 ft, 10 ft, 20 ft, 50 ft
A narrow corridor (10–50 cm) shows only the points very close to the line, giving a precise cross-section.
A wide corridor (5–20 m) includes more points, giving a denser profile but also capturing features further from the line.
Choose based on your needs:
- For a precise terrain cross-section: use 50 cm – 1 m
- For a general corridor overview (e.g., a power line span): use 5 – 10 m
- For very sparse data: use a wider corridor to capture enough points
Exporting the Profile
You can export the profile data in two formats:
- CSV — a spreadsheet file with columns for distance, elevation (both in your project's units), classification class, and optionally RGB colors and intensity. Open this in Excel, Google Sheets, or any data analysis tool.
- DXF — a CAD-compatible file showing the profile as a 2D drawing.
Click the Export CSV or Export DXF button in the profile panel header.
Multiple Profiles
You can create multiple profiles. Each one appears in a list below the profile button:
- Click on a profile in the list to re-open its chart.
- Click the trash icon to delete a profile.
You can also click a profile line directly in the 3D view to re-open its chart — the cursor becomes a pointer when you hover over a clickable line. This works whenever no drawing tool is active, so you can close a profile, look around, and get it back with one click on the line itself.
Use Cases for Elevation Profiles
| Scenario | What to Look For |
|---|---|
| Road cross-section | The road surface should be smooth with a slight crown (high point in the center for drainage) |
| River valley profile | A V-shaped or U-shaped dip showing the valley and water channel |
| Embankment or levee | A raised mound of consistent height |
| Power line clearance | The wire height above the terrain, and whether any vegetation reaches close to it |
| Slope analysis | The angle of the terrain — steep slopes will show a sharp rise in the chart |
| Building height | Flat ground suddenly rising to a flat rooftop, then dropping back to ground |
Tips for Accurate Measurements
- Zoom in before placing measurement points for greater precision.
- Use 2D mode (top-down view) for horizontal measurements — it is easier to click precisely when looking straight down.
- Use 3D mode for elevation profiles — it helps you see the terrain shape and choose meaningful start and end points.
- Measurements are based on the 3D coordinates of the points you click, so they account for elevation changes. A distance measurement along a hillside will show the true 3D distance, not just the flat (horizontal) distance.
Next Step
Need to correct some classifications by hand? Head to Classification Editing.