[GRASS-user] Importing LiDAR data - tools missing

Hello all,

I wanted to have a look at some LiDAR data, but I am somehow missing the
v.in.lidar and r.in.lidar tools to import the data. The entries in the menu
are there, but they are greyed out and typing v.in.lidar into the console
yields a 'not found' message.

I am running Fedora 33, GRASS GIS is from the standard repo, version 7.8.5. Is
the Fedora version of GRASS not compiled with LiDAR support? The other LiDAR
tools from the vector menu are present though ...

many thanks for any tipps on what is going on,
Frank

Hello Frank,
old LAS reading tools were based on libLAS. Nowadays libLAS is not
included in most of modern distributions and thus any GRASS tools
depending on libLAS are disabled at compilation time.

There is a work in progress to move LAS reading to PDAL for GRASS 8.
v.in.pdal is already in the master branch, but r.in.pdal still needs
some work (mainly just LAS info printing).

If you are comfortable with compiling GRASS from source and need
r.in.pdal, you can get it from this PR:
https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/1200

If you are comfortable with C++, you are welcome to contribute missing
bits to speed up inclusion of r.in.pdal into upcoming GRASS version.

All best,
Māris.