# Readers

Readers provide Dimensions to Pipeline. PDAL attempts to normalize common dimension types, like X, Y, Z, or Intensity, which are often found in LiDAR point clouds. Not all dimension types need to be fixed, however. Database drivers typically return unstructured lists of dimensions. A reader might provide a simple file type, like readers.text, a complex database like readers.pgpointcloud, or a network service like readers.ept.

readers.bpf

  Read BPF files encoded as version 1, 2, or 3. BPF is an NGA specification for point cloud data.

readers.buffer

  Special stage that allows you to read data from your own PointView rather than fetching data from a specific reader.

readers.ept

  Used for reading Entwine Point Tile format.

readers.e57

  Read point clouds in the E57 format.

readers.faux

  Used for testing pipelines. It does not read from a file or database, but generates synthetic data to feed into the pipeline.

readers.gdal

  Read GDAL readable raster data sources as point clouds.

readers.hdf

  Read data from files in the HDF5 format.

readers.i3s

  Read data stored in the Esri I3S format. The data is read from an appropriate server.

readers.ilvis2

  Read from files in the ILVIS2 format.

readers.las

  Read ASPRS LAS versions 1.0 - 1.4. Does not support point formats containing waveform data. LASzip support is also enabled through this driver if LASzip or LAZperf are found during compilation.

readers.matlab

  Read point cloud data from MATLAB .mat files where dimensions are stored as arrays in a MATLAB struct.

readers.mbio

  Read sonar bathymetry data from formats supported by the MB-System library.

readers.memoryview

  Read data from memory where dimension data is arranged in rows. For use only with the PDAL API.

readers.mrsid

  Read data compressed by the MrSID 4.0 LiDAR Compressor. Requires the LizardTech Lidar_DSDK.

readers.nitf

  Read point cloud data (LAS or LAZ) wrapped in NITF 2.1 files.

readers.numpy

  Read point cloud data from Numpy `.npy` files.

readers.optech

  Read Optech Corrected Sensor Data (.csd) files.

readers.pcd

  Read files in the PCD format.

readers.pgpointcloud

  Read point cloud data from a PostgreSQL database with the PostgreSQL Pointcloud extension enabled.

readers.ply

  Read points and vertices from either ASCII or binary PLY files.

readers.pts

  Read data from Leica Cyclone PTS files.

readers.qfit

  Read data in the QFIT format originated for NASA’s Airborne Topographic Mapper project.

readers.rxp

  Read data in the RXP format, the in-house streaming format used by RIEGL. The reader requires a copy of RiVLib during compilation.

readers.rdb

  Read data in the RDB format, the in-house database format used by RIEGL. The reader requires a copy of rdblib during compilation and usage.

readers.sbet

  Read the SBET format.

readers.sqlite

  Read data stored in a SQLite database.

readers.slpk

  Read data stored in an Esri SLPK file.

readers.terrasolid

  TerraSolid Reader

readers.text

  Read point clouds from ASCII text files.

readers.tiledb

  Read point cloud data from a TileDB instance.

readers.tindex

  The tindex (tile index) reader allows you to automatically merge and query data described in tile index files that have been generated using the PDAL tindex command.