Dependencies

Note

The absolute best source of build and configuration examples is the PDAL GitHub repository. Specifically, the continuous integration scripts at https://github.com/PDAL/PDAL/tree/master/scripts/ci

PDAL depends on a number of libraries to do its work. Make sure those dependencies are installed on your system before installing PDAL or use a packaging system that will automatically load prerequisites. Packaging system such as apt or Conda can be used to install dependencies on your system.

Required Dependencies

GDAL (3.0+)

PDAL uses GDAL for spatial reference system description manipulation, and image reading supporting for the NITF driver. In conjunction with GeoTIFF, GDAL is used to convert GeoTIFF keys and OGC WKT SRS description strings into formats required by specific drivers.

Source: https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal
Conda: https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/gdal

GeoTIFF (1.3+)

PDAL uses GeoTIFF in conjunction with GDAL for GeoTIFF key support in the LAS driver. GeoTIFF is typically a dependency of GDAL, so installing GDAL from a package will generally install GeoTIFF as well.

Source: https://github.com/OSGeo/libgeotiff
Conda: https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/geotiff

Note

GDAL surreptitiously embeds a copy of GeoTIFF in its library build but there is no way for you to know this. In addition to embedding libgeotiff, it also strips away the library symbols that PDAL needs, meaning that PDAL can’t simply link against GDAL. If you are building both of these libraries yourself, make sure you build GDAL using the “External libgeotiff” option, which will prevent the insanity that can ensue on some platforms. Conda Forge users, including those using that platform to link and build PDAL themselves, do not need to worry about this issue.

Plugin Dependencies

PDAL comes with optional plugin stages that require other libraries in order to run. Many of these libraries are licensed in a way incompatible with the PDAL license or they may be commercial products that require purchase.

Nitro (Requires specific source package)

Nitro is a library that provides NITF support for PDAL to write LAS-in-NITF files for writers.nitf. You must use the specific version of Nitro referenced below for licensing and compatibility reasons.:

Source: http://github.com/hobu/nitro

TileDB (1.4.1+)

TileDB is an efficient multi-dimensional array management system which introduces a novel on-disk format that can effectively store dense and sparse array data with support for fast updates and reads. It features excellent compression, and an efficient parallel I/O system with high scalability. It is used by writers.tiledb and readers.tiledb.:

Source: https://github.com/TileDB-Inc/TileDB
Conda: https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/tiledb