Pointools has just announced the availability of a new plug-in for Google SketchUp. This would seem to be quite a statement about the level of demand for point cloud data by Google SketchUp customers.
In addition to the ability to view extremely large point clouds in SketchUp, there is also built-in support for Google’s geo-location services to coordinate StreetView textures and aerial imagery alongside point clouds. This will create “a first-of-a-kind solution to create 3D city models from mobile scan data”.
This plug-in should enable a powerful combination of 3D point cloud data, visualization and mass market usage – it can only increase the demand for laser scanning.
