Adds the NormalizeLidar tool

Adds the NormalizeLidar tool and also adds a 'mean' option to the VectorPointsToRaster tool to resolve #330.

Author: jblindsay

.DS_Store

@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ Version 2.3.0 (XX-XX-202X)
   and has no dependencies (including Python). You can now open multiple tools simultaneously. 
 - Added the IndividualTreeDetection tool for intentifying points in a LiDAR point cloud that are associated 
   with the tops of individual trees.
+- Added the NormalizeLidar tool for normalizing LiDAR point clouds, i.e., converting their z-values 
+  from elevation to height-above-ground.
 - Added the LaunchWbRunner and InstallWbExtension tools so that the Whitebox Runner will be more 
   accessible from other Whitebox frontends. This way users will always have a good fall-back if the 
   frontend is not up-to-date with the WBT backend, since WbRunner is always current with the installed 
@@ -79,6 +81,9 @@ Version 2.3.0 (XX-XX-202X)
 - Fixed a bugs in the HorizonAngle and ExposureTowardsWindFlux tools.
 - Added a point time interpolation parameter to the LidarNearestNeighbourGridding tool.
 - Added the ListUniqueValuesRaster tool.
+- Fixed a bug with the SetNodataValue tool, where the raster data type is updated to a signed integer
+  if the background value is negative and the input image has an unsigned data type.
+- Added a 'mean' option to the VectorPointsToRaster tool.
 
 Version 2.2.0 (23-10-2022)
 - Added the TravellingSalesmanProblem tool for identifying short routes connecting multiple locations.

Cargo.lock

@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
 byteorder = "^1.3.1"
-chrono = "0.4.15"
-las = { version = "0.7.8", features = ["laz"] }
+chrono = "0.4.21"
+las = { version = "0.8.0", features = ["laz"] }
 miniz_oxide = "0.3.6"
 zip = "0.3.0"
 brotli = "3.3.0"

readme.txt

@@ -2886,7 +2886,7 @@ impl LasFile {
 
         if !self.file_name.to_lowercase().ends_with(".zip")
             && !self.file_name.to_lowercase().ends_with(".zlidar")
-            && !self.file_name.to_lowercase().ends_with(".las")
+            && !self.file_name.to_lowercase().ends_with(".laz")
         {
             let f = File::create(&self.file_name)?;
             let mut writer = BufWriter::new(f);

whitebox-lidar/Cargo.toml

@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ path = "src/local_quadratic_regression/main.rs"
 name = "max_upslope_value"
 path = "src/max_upslope_value/main.rs"
 
+[[bin]]
+name = "normalize_lidar"
+path = "src/normalize_lidar/main.rs"
+
 [[bin]]
 name = "qin_flow_accumulation"
 path = "src/qin_flow_accumulation/main.rs"

whitebox-lidar/src/las.rs

@@ -24,14 +24,14 @@ use std::thread;
 
 /// This tool can be used to identify points in a LiDAR point cloud that are associated with the tops of individual trees. The
 /// tool takes a LiDAR point cloud as an input (`input_lidar`) and it is best if the input file has been normalized using the
-/// `lidar_tophat_transform` function, such that points record height above the ground surface. Note that the `input_file` 
+/// `lidar_tophat_transform` function, such that points record height above the ground surface. Note that the `input` 
 /// parameter is optional and if left unspecified the tool will search for all valid LiDAR (*.las, *.laz, *.zlidar) files 
 /// contained within the current working directory. This 'batch mode' operation is common among many of the LiDAR processing 
 /// tools. Output vectors are saved to disc automatically for each processed LiDAR file when operating in batch mode.
 /// 
 /// The tool will evaluate the points within a local neighbourhood around each point in the input point cloud and determine
 /// if it is the highest point within the neighbourhood. If a point is the highest local point, it will be entered into the
-/// output vector file (`output_file`). The neighbourhood size can vary, with higher canopy positions generally associated with larger
+/// output vector file (`output`). The neighbourhood size can vary, with higher canopy positions generally associated with larger
 /// neighbourhoods. The user specifies the `min_search_radius` and `min_height` parameters, which default to 1 m and 0 m 
 /// respectively. If the `min_height` parameter is greater than zero, all points that are less than this value above the 
 /// ground (assuming the input point cloud measures this height parameter) are ignored, which can be a useful mechanism
@@ -88,8 +88,8 @@ fn help() {
     version    Prints the tool version information.
 
     The following flags can be used with the 'run' command:
-    -i, --input_file     Name of the input LiDAR file.
-    -o, --output_file    Name of the output vector points file.
+    -i, --input          Name of the input LiDAR file.
+    -o, --output         Name of the output vector points file.
     --min_search_radius  Minimum search radius (m).
     --min_height         Minimum height (m).
     --max_search_radius  Maximum search radius (m).