LiDAR Articles

How to Process Your Wingtra LiDAR Data with the LP360 Drone Bundle

Enhance, Colorize, and Deliver Your Wingtra LiDAR with LP360 Software

Capturing high-quality LiDAR data is essential for many surveying, engineering, construction, and environmental projects. As technology advances, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with LiDAR sensors have revolutionized how professionals collect and analyze spatial data. Wingtra, has emerged as a leader in this space, known for their highly reliable vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones. Pairing a Wingtra drone with their LiDAR payload unlocks new levels of productivity and efficiency in large-scale surveying. Yet, for all the incredible raw data a Wingtra LiDAR system can gather, it’s often the downstream software that makes the biggest difference. By integrating LP360 Drone software into your Wingtra workflow, you gain the ability to not only process LiDAR data but also enhance, colorize, and streamline it into actionable deliverables.

The combination of LP360 Drone, especially the recommended Wingtra LP360 Bundle Pack, can help streamline your Wingtra LiDAR datasets. From managing coordinate systems to colorizing point clouds, automatic ground detection, advanced classification, volume calculations, and more, LP360’s robust toolset ensures you extract maximum value from every flight.

The Promise of Wingtra LiDAR

Wingtra’s reputation in the drone surveying industry is built on delivering unmatched reliability, accuracy, and efficiency. Their drones, known for their vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, drastically reduce the complexity and risk associated with traditional fixed-wing UAV operations. Surveyors and engineers can map large areas in a fraction of the time that traditional methods require, making it possible to handle bigger projects more frequently and with tighter turnaround times.

By introducing a LiDAR payload, Wingtra expands its payload lineup. While photogrammetry remains a cornerstone for many survey tasks, LiDAR extends capabilities to penetrating vegetation, capturing true 3D structures of terrain, and generating extremely detailed digital terrain models (DTMs). Wingtra’s LiDAR solution offers accuracy up to about three centimeters and coverage of up to 300 hectares per flight at 90 meters altitude. You can map large-scale construction sites, infrastructure corridors, mines, forests, and urban landscapes, all while reliably obtaining highly accurate topographic and structural information.

This advanced hardware platform changes many aspects of how surveyors manage their workflow—from initial planning and design to construction, maintenance, and eventual renovation. Drone LiDAR system accelerates the data acquisition process, enabling your team to focus on analysis and decision-making. But once you have this high-density, highly accurate point cloud, what’s next?

Beyond Raw LiDAR: The Need for LP360 Drone

Raw LiDAR data, while powerful, is not a finished product. Without complementary software, you’re left with billions of points that lack context. This is where LP360 Drone stands out. LP360 transforms raw data into valuable, consumable information. It goes beyond standard point cloud viewing by offering a suite of analytical and processing tools to streamline your data into professional-grade deliverables.

Colorization of the Point Cloud:

Unlike LiDAR sensors coupled directly with RGB cameras, the Wingtra LiDAR payload does not simultaneously scan color imagery. With LP360, you can bring in an external orthophoto—derived from a separate camera flight or orthomosaic—and colorize your LiDAR points, providing greater realism and clarity.

Coordinate System Management:

Managing coordinate transformations is often one of the most painstaking parts of working with geospatial data. Whether you need to change datums, adjust epochs, or shift from grid to ground coordinates, LP360 makes it straightforward. This ensures that your final data lines up with your project’s established reference frame, a critical step for engineering, construction, and infrastructure planning.

QA/QC and Accuracy Verification:

LP360 incorporates tools for automatic ground control point (GCP) detection, data correction, strip alignment, and thorough quality checks. This is critical for large-scale surveying projects where accuracy is non-negotiable. With LP360 QA/QC procedures, you can confirm that your Wingtra LiDAR data meets or exceeds project standards, enabling confident decision-making and project planning.

Advanced Classification and Feature Extraction:

LP360 excels at classifying LiDAR points. From automated ground classification to advanced extraction of features like buildings, powerlines, and vegetation, the software refines your dataset into functional layers. These classified outputs are crucial for generating digital elevation models (DEMs), DTMs, contour lines, breaklines, and volumetric measurements—tools that are essential for infrastructure design, environmental analysis, and resource management.

Customizable GUI and Workflow Automation:

Every surveying operation has its unique requirements. LP360’s customizable GUI and workflow automation allow you to tailor the software to your needs. Quickly configure repeatable workflows to handle large datasets rather than dealing with repetitive processing tasks.

LP360 Cloud Extension: For teams collaborating across multiple offices or remote job sites, LP360 Cloud provides a platform to store, search, share, and stream data. Your Wingtra-collected LiDAR data can be securely shared and accessed for remote analysis, enabling a seamless transition from field to office and ensuring every stakeholder has the data they need when they need it.

Wingtra Drone in Field

Streamlining the Processing Workflow

A typical LiDAR survey workflow consists of:

Planning and Flight Execution:

Before the flight, you design your mission based on project requirements—coverage area, accuracy targets, ground sample distance, etc. With Wingtra’s streamlined mission planning, you can cover extensive areas quickly and reliably.

Data Transfer and Initial Processing:

After the flight, transferring data from Wingtra’s LiDAR payload is as simple as removing the USB drive and plugging it into your workstation. Wingtra’s LiDAR app can process the raw data, handle PPK (Post-Processed Kinematic) solutions, and produce trajectory files. During this step, the system automatically detects and filters outliers, such as dust, birds, or reflections, ensuring you start with a clean dataset.

Bringing Data into LP360:

This is where the synergy takes off. You import the processed point cloud and trajectory files into LP360. Thanks to its user-friendly wizards and template-driven approaches, you can handle multiple flights simultaneously. LP360 reads, manages, and organizes the data so you can quickly move into refinement and analysis.

Data Refinement and Enhancement:

Within LP360, you define coordinate systems, apply strip alignment corrections (if necessary), and begin QA/QC. At this stage, an external orthophoto can be used to colorize the point cloud. The visual enhancement dramatically improves the interpretability of features and supports better decision-making.

Classification and Analysis:

With a clean, colorized point cloud, you begin applying classification routines. Need to isolate bare earth from vegetation and structures? LP360’s ground classification tools handle that automatically. Looking to extract building rooftops, measure stockpile volumes, or identify powerline encroachments? LP360’s advanced tools and point cloud tasks help you accomplish these tasks efficiently.

Deliverables:

After classification and analysis, generating final deliverables is straightforward. Produce DTMs, contour lines, breaklines, and topographic models that integrate seamlessly into CAD environments. Export volumetric reports or project these results into your client’s preferred coordinate system. The result is a polished, professional deliverable that meets engineering-grade standards.

Enhancing Value for Different Industries

From construction and infrastructure to mining, utilities, and environmental management, Wingtra LiDAR combined with LP360 brings tangible benefits across a wide range of applications.

Construction & Infrastructure:

Contractors, project managers, and surveyors can now rely on accurate DTM and contour lines to plan earthworks, roads, and drainage systems. LP360’s ability to integrate with CAD and GIS ensures easy communication between design and on-site teams, reducing errors, rework, and costly delays. With reliable LiDAR-based measurements, you’re more likely to stay on budget and on schedule, all while delivering superior products to clients.

Urban Planning:

Cities are dynamic environments with constant infrastructure upgrades, zoning changes, and development projects. The combination of Wingtra’s rapid data collection and LP360’s data enrichment allows urban planners to analyze terrains, building footprints, vegetation coverage, and flood risks. The result is improved decision-making in land-use planning, transportation networks, and environmental protection efforts.

Mining & Natural Resources:

In mining operations, having precise and timely volumetric calculations is critical. LP360’s volumetric tools can calculate the volumes of stockpiles, pits, or extracted materials with a high degree of accuracy. This in turn reduces guesswork, improves inventory management, and enables more strategic decision-making about resource allocation.

Power Lines & Utilities:

Power line corridors often require detailed, up-to-date mapping to prevent vegetation encroachment and to maintain infrastructure safety. LP360’s specialized tools for powerline detection and encroachment analysis simplify these time-consuming tasks. By integrating the LiDAR data collected by a Wingtra drone, you can create regular and automated workflows that keep utility rights-of-way clear and safe.

Environmental Monitoring & Forestry:

LiDAR’s ability to penetrate vegetation and measure canopy structure is invaluable for forest inventories, wildlife habitat analysis, and environmental protection strategies. By adding orthophoto colorization and classification, LP360 makes it easier to identify different vegetation classes and changes in forest structure over time—crucial data for resource management and conservation efforts.

Speed, Safety, and Savings

Incorporating LP360 into your Wingtra LiDAR workflow can deliver three key benefits that align closely with the needs of today’s demanding industries:

Speed and Efficiency:

Wingtra drones can cover large areas rapidly, drastically reducing field time. Meanwhile, LP360’s streamlined workflows and automated classification routines significantly cut down processing time. This combination enables you to handle larger, more complex projects without sacrificing accuracy or quality.

Safety and Reduced Fieldwork:

By mapping from the air, Wingtra systems reduce the amount of time personnel spend in hazardous or remote environments. LP360’s ability to extract maximum insight from fewer field visits further minimizes safety risks.

Cost Savings and ROI:

Enhanced workflow efficiency, more accurate bidding, fewer project delays, and the ability to take on more projects—these all contribute to a better bottom line. By integrating Wingtra LiDAR with LP360, you invest in a solution that pays for itself in terms of improved productivity, reputational gains, and client satisfaction.

Training, Support, and Ongoing Innovation

Transitioning to a new workflow can feel daunting, but LP360 and Wingtra both prioritize customer success. With regular training options, monthly classes, responsive support teams, and user-friendly interfaces, you’ll quickly be able to master these tools. Access to experts who can guide you through QC, classification, or strip alignment ensures you maximize your investment. Additionally, the ongoing evolution of both Wingtra and LP360 means your solution remains at the forefront of aerial mapping innovation, ready to tackle emerging industry challenges.

The Right Combination: LP360 and Wingtra LiDAR

Wingtra’s LiDAR system already streamlines data capture with unparalleled speed and reliability. By pairing it with LP360 Drone software, you gain the power to colorize point clouds, integrate orthophotos, classify and analyze data in 3D, and generate optimized deliverables for a wide array of industries and applications.

Whether you are conducting large-scale construction surveys, urban planning analyses, mining inventories, or environmental assessments, the Wingtra-LP360 ecosystem delivers a cutting-edge solution. It empowers you to leverage the full potential of your LiDAR data, transforming raw measurements into meaningful insights. With streamlined workflows, robust QA/QC, advanced classification tools, and flexible coordinate system management, this integrated solution ensures that every LiDAR survey you conduct is accurate, insightful, and future-proof.

By choosing the recommended LP360 Drone bundle for Wingtra users (priced at $5,250 USD/year), you position your organization at the forefront of modern surveying technology. As industries demand faster turnarounds, greater precision, and more sophisticated analytics, combining Wingtra LiDAR and LP360 is not just an upgrade—it’s a strategic advantage that sets you apart and keeps your business thriving in the ever-evolving geospatial landscape.

For more information with one of our software experts.