Prepare Terrestrial Data Leica BLK360 and Leica RTC360

This page describes Leica BLK360 system and Leica RTC360 system terrestrial resources for Orbit.
Using the according Orbit Import Templates the described resources can be imported into Orbit.

It is strongly recommend to read first Concepts of Mobile Mapping and UAS data in Orbit.

The data are delivered in .E57 format. This file consists of the images, the photo positions and the point cloud(s).

Importing .E57 files can be done through the Import Run procedure. Using a template for a E57 import will induce this procedure to have one step extra compared to a regular import process. Below, this import procedure is described step by step.

Currently, the process requires one manual change (Step 3). One can use the script below to do this in an automatic way.

1. Open the Import Run procedure and go through the first step of creating a Mobile Mapping Run.
2. Extract the images and photo position file from the .E57 file by selecting the E57 file via 'Select file'. The images and photo position file (positions.CSV) will be saved in the folder: <orbit run>/panorama1/original
3. Update positions.csv to only keep one photo position per panorama image in this photo position file. In the original positions.csv, there is one photo position for each cube face planar image - like there is in the E57 XML. This needs to be brought back to one photo position for each panorama image: the front image.
4. Select the photo position file in the next step of the procedure in Orbit: make sure to select the UPDATED file 'positions.CSV'.

Via the procedure Optimize Imagery, Orbit will create Orbit Multiresolution Image panorama images. They are - as always - stored in the processed folder.

Step 3: Update photo position file

Use the following command in Windows PowerShell. Make sure to update the path in the command.

Set-Content -Path "<Orbit Run>/panorama1/original/positions.csv" -Value (get-content -Path "<Orbit Run>/panorama1/original/positions.csv" |  Select-String -Pattern 'CubeFace2','CubeFace3','CubeFace4','CubeFace5','CubeFace6' -NotMatch)

The data are delivered in .E57 format. This file consists of the images, the photo positions and the point cloud(s).