OPALS stands for Orientation and Processing of Airborne Laser Scanning data. It is a modular program system consisting of small components (modules) grouped together thematically in packages. The aim of OPALS is to provide a complete processing chain for processing airborne laser scanning data (waveform decomposition, quality control, georeferencing, structure line extraction, point cloud classification, DTM generation) and several fields of application like forestry, hydrography, city modelling and power lines).

User documentation

Section Installation Guide including the Release notes describes how to download and install OPALS binaries for Windows and Linux
Section Licensing policy discusses the terms of use concerning commercial, academic, contributors and (free) personal scientific licenses
Section Getting Started gives a 15 minute introduction on how generate a DEM from a 3D point cloud with OPALS
Section Use Cases presents typical applications, workflows and typical command sequences
Section Compact List of OPALS Modules provides a list of all OPALS modules with further links to the respective module documentation
Section qpals describes the installation and use of the interactive QGIS plugin of OPALS
Section FAQ answers frequently asked questions concerning data processing with OPALS
Section Bibliography contains a list of OPALS related scientific articles
Section Reference documentation provides access to specific topics like the ODM, scripting/programming in Python and C++, filters, etc.

OPALS packages

The functionality of OPALS is grouped in packages, each with a specific focus. The package list below follows a typical ALS processing chain from raw sensor data analysis, via DTM generation to thematic applications. Each package consists of a series of modules and corresponding process control scripts.

Package opalsPreprocess deals with full waveform analysis and 3D point cloud derivation
Package opalsQuality implements a complete ALS quality control and documentation procedure
Package opalsGeoref provides a framework for mutual orientation and georeferencing of ALS scans
Package opalsGeomorph contains tools for automatic 3D structure line extraction and interactive line editing
Package opalsClassify features conventional ALS terrain point filtering and machine learning based 3D labelling
Package opalsSurface covers interpolation and visualisation digital surface and terrain model (DSM/DTM)
Package opalsHydro summarizes tools for laser bathymetry like refraction correction, water surface modelling, etc.
Package opalsForest provides scripts for forestry related applications (delineation, biomass estimation, etc.)

For inquiries and feedback please contact the OPALS Team (Data Protection Declaration).