View LiDAR data in 3D

Yes, you can view your LiDAR data in 3D. It is best if the LAS or LAZ LiDAR data is imported as a point cloud map, then it can be viewed with the 3D View tool.

1. Open your LAS or LAZ data as a point cloud map by clicking Home | New Map | Specialty | Point Cloud, selecting your LAS or LAZ file and clicking Open.
2. Select the import options you wish in the Import Points dialog and click OK. More details on how to import LiDAR data and generate point cloud maps are in this article: Map LiDAR point cloud data in Surfer 
3. In the Contents window, right click over the Point Cloud layer and click 3D View from the context menu that appears.
4. The 3D view opens with the point cloud. You can adjust the point size for the point cloud symbols by selecting the Point Cloud layer in the Contents window, and adjusting the Point size in the Properties window.

Note: by default, the maximum number of points to display for a point cloud in the 3D view is 4 million. This is to decrease the processing time when trying to display a large number of points. You can adjust this value though by clicking File | Options, selecting 3D View from the menu on the left, and changing the value for Maximum number of points on the right and clicking OK. The maximum number of points to display for a point cloud in the 3D view can be set from 1 million up to 16 million.

Updated November, 2022