Global Mapper v24.1

Compare 2 raster surfaces, visualize elevation differences

Heya! This is a common process I go through while preparing lidar, binning, and digitizing breaklines to prepare surfaces to go into CAD.

Typical uses -

  1. Checking a binned lidar point cloud (after creating an elevation grid) against the original lidar point cloud (after creating an elevation grid). Mainly, I'm looking for a bin setting that eliminates residual vegetation that was classified as GROUND in the original point cloud, without requiring too much manual cleanup. In this case, I'm looking for +elevation values in the output where residual vegetation exists.
  2. Checking a derivative, simplified surface (CAD-bound) against the original lidar point cloud (after creating an elevation grid) to see if I'm missing breaklines I need to add.


The script will ask for 2x raster surfaces, compare them, and export JPGs scaled to multiple clamped elevations (100%, 50%, 25%, 10% of max elevation difference). It will set up a custom shader called "Elevation Difference - PBS" as well.


Enjoy!