In the open source GIS world, there are some fantastic tools to work with point clouds. Due to this sheer number of points a completely different approach to visualise, analyse and store point clouds is needed in a GIS platform.

Typical vector datasets range from thousands to millions of features, while point clouds range from millions to billions or even trillions of points. Point cloud data are vector in nature, but are usually orders of magnitude larger than a standard vector layer. With the recent advancements in LiDAR survey technology and photogrammetry there has been a growing demand in capturing and storing point cloud data. We've decided to extend the campaign with some very exciting stretch goals! We'll be announcing these soon, and they will build on theįunded point cloud functionality with further improvements to QGIS 3D and the upcoming point cloud support. Thanks to the outpouring of support we've seen from the community, Success! We have successfully reached our original goal of 49000 EUR.

For example, sometimes QGIS loads data that were requested at some point, but they are not needed for the current view anymore.

Improvements of the mechanism to load 3D data to make data loading in 3D views faster and smarter.

Support for existing indexed point cloud format useful especially for those already having point cloud data converted to a visualization friendly format (for example those using Entwine, Potree, 3D Tiles or I3S).

Expose point cloud metadata in layer properties and ensure PDAL has the appropriate API available to retrieve all useful source Metadata.

Refine 3D navigation for point clouds possibly new navigation modes or shortcuts (also fixing issues with the current mode, like more flexible rotation center choice).

Please consider pledging towards the campaign to allow us to make the point clouds support in QGIS even smoother and easier to use: We guarantee that any funds over the original requested amount will be used to work towards these goals. All of these are high priority pieces of infrastructure that would make working with point clouds better. We have identified several extra goals we would like to achieve while working on the implementation of point clouds in QGIS. We are hoping you will enjoy the new functionality just as we enjoyed building it for the amazing QGIS community! UPDATE Today also marks the official release of QGIS 3.18. Huge thanks to everyone who contributed or supported us last couple of months during the crowdfunding campaign and development. We have published the list of contributors in a blog post.