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libLAS provides a number of attractive features for a software developer
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looking to incorporate support for the `ASPRS LAS format`_ in their software.
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libLAS is open source software. You can embed it in your own applications
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(and even resell it) as long as you follow the crediting restriction of the BSD
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license. See :ref:`license` for more detail.
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libLAS has C, C++, .NET, Ruby, and Python APIs.
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Spatial Reference System Support
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Linked against a 1.2.5+ version of `libgeotiff`_, you can set and get the
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spatial reference systems of LAS files using simple `proj.4`_ coordinate
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system definitions. Alternatively, with libLAS 1.2, you can link against
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`GDAL`_ to be able to manipulate spatial references using `OGC WKT`_. Version
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1.6 or greater of libLAS can be used in combination with `GDAL`_ 1.8+ to
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support `vertical coordinate systems`_ as well.
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Simple Variable Length Record Abstraction
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libLAS provides a sensible abstraction for working with variable length records (VLR)
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in LAS files, and it transparently manages the VLRs related to spatial referencing
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Command-line Utilities
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libLAS provides ports of the :ref:`lastools_liblas` utilities by Martin Isenburg for doing
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things like translating from one version of the LAS format to another, inspecting
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header information, and translating LAS data to and from text.
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:ref:`utilities` contains descriptions of the utilities that libLAS provides
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and :ref:`lastools_liblas` contains information about the relationship
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between libLAS and LAStools.
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Cross-platform operation
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libLAS is known to work on all editions of Microsoft Visual C++ 7.1+ (Windows) and
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GCC 4.1+ (Mac OS X and Linux) platforms on both big- and little-endian architectures.
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.. _`proj.4`: http://proj.maptools.org/
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.. _`GDAL`: http://www.gdal.org
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.. _`libgeotiff`: http://www.remotesensing.org/geotiff/geotiff.html
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.. _`vertical coordinate systems`: http://trac.liblas.org/wiki/VerticalCS
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.. _`ASPRS LAS format`: http://www.asprs.org/society/committees/standards/lidar_exchange_format.html
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.. _`OGC WKT`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well-known_text
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