Blue Marble Geographics is pleased to announce the release of Global Mapper version 14.1. This update to the company’s popular desktop GIS translation software offers many new and improved features and functions including a significant improvement in the ability to process massive amounts of LiDAR point cloud data, jumping from tens of millions of points to hundreds of millions.
Blue Marble’s geospatial data manipulation, visualization and conversion solutions are used worldwide by thousands of GIS analysts at software, oil and gas, mining, civil engineering, surveying, and technology companies, as well as governmental and university organizations.
Global Mapper 14.1 provides a dramatic increase in LiDAR processing and display speed and the ability to view and process point files in the hundreds of millions range. This is beneficial for previewing the data before creating a gridded surface model and includes several options for filtering the data during import and for rendering the point cloud to reflect return type or intensity.
Improved metadata access provides a detailed statistical breakdown of the point cloud and customizable point size improves on-screen display. Global Mapper Package (.GMP) files are now able to store LiDAR point clouds in a special compressed format, much smaller than uncompressed LAS data and on par with the best compression available today. This allows LiDAR data to be efficiently archived or shared with other Global Mapper users.
Version 14.1 also introduces a host of new functionality to the digitizer tool including a new option to create a coverage area (concave hull) for loaded or selected point features, a tool for creating a line “skeleton” from area features, and many additional enhancements and improvements. Also included in this release, is a new water level analysis function for better flood plain modeling and a tool for creating Voronoi/Thiessen polygons for the spatial analysis of loaded point features. Global Mapper 14.1 includes support for many new file formats such as GeoMedia MDB, DWG 2013, MapBox, MBTiles, and RMaps SQlite files for use on Android mobile devices. There is also a new OTF reader available for an additional license.
“Version 14.1 feels like a major version release,” stated Blue Marble’s President Patrick Cunningham. “However, this is just a first step in our commitment to high-end LiDAR functionality. We are very pleased to be offering these updates to our customers combined with the flexibility of our new USB dongle licensing. We think our users will be excited that we are continuing our commitment to add new features and functions at a price unheard of in commercial software.”
Blue Marble offers this upgrade at no cost to customers who have previously purchased version 14.0 or at a significant discount for users of Global Mapper 13. Version 14.1 introduces a new dongle licensing option for companies that need a flexible license that can be shared among several users. Dongle licensing requires the purchase of an upgrade license for all Global Mapper users.