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  las2iso:

  reads LIDAR in LAS/LAZ/ASCII format and extracts isocontours by
  constructing and interpolating a temporary TIN. It is possible
  to triangulate only certain points such as only first returns
  (-first_only) or only last returns (-last_only). One can also
  only triangulate points that have a particular classification.
  For example, the option '-keep_class 2 3' will triangulate only
  the points of classification 2 or 3.

  The resulting isocontours are stored either in ESRI's Shapefile
  format (-o contours.shp) or as a text file (-o contours.txt) 
  or in Google Earth's KML format for immediate visualization
  (-o contours.kml). For the latter georeferencing information
  is needed. If it is not provided in the LAS header then it can
  be specified in the command line (-utm 14T or -sp83 OH_S).

  Optionally the contours can also be simplified, cleaned, and
  smoothed before output.
 
  Isolines along the convex hull of the point cloud where triangles
  are very large are suppressed with the '-concavity 10' option.
  This will recursively remove all triangles with an edge length
  of 10 meters that are adjacent to the boundary. The default is
  a concavity of 50 meter. Use '-concavity 0' to disable this. The
  value is always assumed to be meters and will be multipled with
  3.28 for LAS/LAZ files where x and y are known to be in feet.
 
  Isolines crossing triangles whose edge length is larger than a
  threshold can be eliminated with the '-kill 250' option. The
  default is a kill of 50 meter. Use '-kill 1000000' to disable
  this. The value is always assumed to be meters and will be
  multipled with 3.28 for LAS/LAZ files where x and y are known
  to be in feet.

  Closed breaklines can be supplied for hydro-enforcment of
  lakes, for example ('-lakes lakes.shp', '-lakes hydro.txt')
  but they must form proper closed polygons and have elevations.

  Hard breaklines can be integrated for improving the TIN before
  it is sampled with ('-creeks roads.shp', '-creeks creeks.txt')
  and while they can be open they must also have elevations.

  Please license from martin.isenburg@rapidlasso.com to use las2iso
  commercially.

  For updates check the website or join the LAStools mailing list.

  http://lastools.org/
  http://groups.google.com/group/lastools/
  http://twitter.com/lastools/
  http://facebook.com/lastools/
  http://linkedin.com/groups?gid=4408378

  Martin @lastools

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example usage:

>> las2iso -i *.las -oshp -iso_every 2

extracts 2 unit contours from all files that match *.las and stores
the result in ESRI's Shapefile format.

>> las2iso -i *.txt -iparse ssxyz -oshp -iso_number 20

extracts 20 evenly spaced contours from all ASCII files *.txt that
are parsed with "ssxyz" and stores the result in Shapefile format.

>> las2iso -i lidar.las -o contours.shp -iso_every 5 -simplify 1 -clean 10
 
extracts 5 unit contours, simplifies away all segments that are
shorter than 1 unit, cleans out all contours whose total length
is shorter than 10 units, and then stores the result in ESRI's
Shapefile format.

>> las2iso -i lidar.las -o contours.kml -iso_number 20 -utm 10T

extracts 20 evenly spaced contours and stores the result in KML
format using UTM 10T as projection information.

>> las2iso -i flight1*.laz flight2*.laz -oshp -iso_every 2

extracts 2 unit contours from all LAZ files that match flight1*.laz
or flight2*.laz and stores the result in ESRI's Shapefile format.

>> las2iso -i lidar.txt -iparse xyz -o contours.kml -iso_number 50 -sp83 IA_N

extracts 50 evenly spaced contours and stores the result in KML
format using state plane83 Iowa North as projection information.

>> las2iso -i lidar.las -o contours.shp -iso_every 10 -simplify 0.5

extracts evenly spaced contours every 10 units, simplifies away all
segments that are shorter than 0.5 units, and stores the result in
ESRI's Shapefile format.

>> las2iso -i lidar1.las lidar2.las -merged -o contours.wkt -iso_range 400 800 5 

merges LAS files lidar1.las lidar2.las, extracts 5 units contours
from 400 to 800, and stores the result in Well Known Text format.

>> las2iso -i lidar.laz -o contours.shp -last_only -clean 100

extracts 10 contours using only the last returns from the LAZ file, 
cleans out all contours whose total length is shorter than 100 units,
and stores the result in ESRI's Shapefile format.

>> las2iso -i data*.las -merged -o merged.shp -iso_every 5 -keep_class 2 3

merges all LAS files data*.las into one and extracts contours every
5 units using only points that are classified as 2 or 3 and stores
the result in ESRI's Shapefile format.

for more info:

C:\lastools\bin>las2iso -h
Filter points based on their coordinates.
  -keep_tile 631000 4834000 1000 (ll_x ll_y size)
  -keep_circle 630250.00 4834750.00 100 (x y radius)
  -keep_xy 630000 4834000 631000 4836000 (min_x min_y max_x max_y)
  -drop_xy 630000 4834000 631000 4836000 (min_x min_y max_x max_y)
  -keep_x 631500.50 631501.00 (min_x max_x)
  -drop_x 631500.50 631501.00 (min_x max_x)
  -drop_x_below 630000.50 (min_x)
  -drop_x_above 630500.50 (max_x)
  -keep_y 4834500.25 4834550.25 (min_y max_y)
  -drop_y 4834500.25 4834550.25 (min_y max_y)
  -drop_y_below 4834500.25 (min_y)
  -drop_y_above 4836000.75 (max_y)
  -keep_z 11.125 130.725 (min_z max_z)
  -drop_z 11.125 130.725 (min_z max_z)
  -drop_z_below 11.125 (min_z)
  -drop_z_above 130.725 (max_z)
  -keep_xyz 620000 4830000 100 621000 4831000 200 (min_x min_y min_z max_x max_y max_z)
  -drop_xyz 620000 4830000 100 621000 4831000 200 (min_x min_y min_z max_x max_y max_z)
Filter points based on their return number.
  -first_only -keep_first -drop_first
  -last_only -keep_last -drop_last
  -keep_middle -drop_middle
  -keep_return 1 2 3
  -drop_return 3 4
  -keep_single -drop_single
  -keep_double -drop_double
  -keep_triple -drop_triple
  -keep_quadruple -drop_quadruple
  -keep_quintuple -drop_quintuple
Filter points based on the scanline flags.
  -drop_scan_direction 0
  -scan_direction_change_only
  -edge_of_flight_line_only
Filter points based on their intensity.
  -keep_intensity 20 380
  -drop_intensity_below 20
  -drop_intensity_above 380
  -drop_intensity_between 4000 5000
Filter points based on their classification.
  -keep_class 1 3 7
  -drop_class 4 2
  -drop_synthetic -keep_synthetic
  -drop_keypoint -keep_keypoint
  -drop_withheld -keep_withheld
Filter points based on their user data.
  -keep_user_data 1
  -drop_user_data 255
  -keep_user_data_between 10 20
  -drop_user_data_below 1
  -drop_user_data_above 100
  -drop_user_data_between 10 40
Filter points based on their point source ID.
  -keep_point_source 3
  -keep_point_source_between 2 6
  -drop_point_source 27
  -drop_point_source_below 6
  -drop_point_source_above 15
  -drop_point_source_between 17 21
Filter points based on their scan angle.
  -keep_scan_angle -15 15
  -drop_abs_scan_angle_above 15
  -drop_scan_angle_below -15
  -drop_scan_angle_above 15
  -drop_scan_angle_between -25 -23
Filter points based on their gps time.
  -keep_gps_time 11.125 130.725
  -drop_gps_time_below 11.125
  -drop_gps_time_above 130.725
  -drop_gps_time_between 22.0 48.0
Filter points based on their wavepacket.
  -keep_wavepacket 0
  -drop_wavepacket 3
Filter points with simple thinning.
  -keep_every_nth 2
  -keep_random_fraction 0.1
  -thin_with_grid 1.0
Transform coordinates.
  -translate_x -2.5
  -scale_z 0.3048
  -rotate_xy 15.0 620000 4100000 (angle + origin)
  -translate_xyz 0.5 0.5 0
  -translate_then_scale_y -0.5 1.001
  -clamp_z_below 70.5
  -clamp_z 70.5 72.5
Transform raw xyz integers.
  -translate_raw_z 20
  -translate_raw_xyz 1 1 0
  -clamp_raw_z 500 800
Transform intensity.
  -scale_intensity 2.5
  -translate_intensity 50
  -translate_then_scale_intensity 0.5 3.1
  -clamp_intensity 0 255
  -clamp_intensity_above 255
Transform scan_angle.
  -scale_scan_angle 1.944445
  -translate_scan_angle -5
  -translate_then_scale_scan_angle -0.5 2.1
Change the return number or return count of points.
  -repair_zero_returns
  -set_return_number 1
  -change_return_number_from_to 2 1
  -set_number_of_returns 2
  -change_number_of_returns_from_to 0 2
Modify the classification.
  -set_classification 2
  -change_classification_from_to 2 4
  -classify_z_below_as -5.0 7
  -classify_z_above_as 70.0 7
  -classify_z_between_as 2.0 5.0 4
  -classify_intensity_above_as 200 9
  -classify_intensity_below_as 30 11
Modify the user data.
  -set_user_data 0
  -change_user_data_from_to 23 26
Modify the point source ID.
  -set_point_source 500
  -change_point_source_from_to 1023 1024
  -quantize_Z_into_point_source 200
Transform gps_time.
  -translate_gps_time 40.50
  -adjusted_to_week
  -week_to_adjusted 1671
Transform RGB colors.
  -scale_rgb_down (by 256)
  -scale_rgb_up (by 256)
Supported LAS Inputs
  -i lidar.las
  -i lidar.laz
  -i lidar1.las lidar2.las lidar3.las -merged
  -i *.las - merged
  -i flight0??.laz flight1??.laz
  -i terrasolid.bin
  -i esri.shp
  -i nasa.qi
  -i lidar.txt -iparse xyzti -iskip 2 (on-the-fly from ASCII)
  -i lidar.txt -iparse xyzi -itranslate_intensity 1024
  -lof file_list.txt
  -stdin (pipe from stdin)
  -rescale 0.01 0.01 0.001
  -rescale_xy 0.01 0.01
  -rescale_z 0.01
  -reoffset 600000 4000000 0
Supported Line Outputs
  -o lines.shp
  -o boundary.wkt
  -o contours.kml
  -o output.txt
  -odir C:\footprints (specify output directory)
  -odix _isolines (specify file name appendix)
  -ocut 2 (cut the last two characters from name)
  -oshp -owkt -okml -otxt
  -stdout (pipe to stdout)
Optional Settings
  -only_2d
  -kml_absolute
  -kml_elevation_offset 17.5
LAStools (by martin@rapidlasso.com) version 140301 (unlicensed)
usage:
las2iso -i *.las -oshp
las2iso -i flight1*.las flight2*.las -oshp -simplify 1 -clean 10
las2iso -i *.las -okml -iso_range 400 600 20 -utm 14S
las2iso -i *.txt -iparse ssxyz -owkt -iso_every 2 -simplify 0.5 -concavity 100
las2iso -i lidar.las -first_only -o contours.wkt -iso_number 20
las2iso -i lidar.las -o contours.shp -last_only -iso_range 400 600 20
las2iso -i lidar.las -otxt -stdout -keep_class 2 3 9 > lines.txt
las2iso -h

other possible transformations for KML generation:
-utm 11T
-sp83 IA_N
-sp27 IA_S
-longlat
-latlong

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if you find bugs let me (martin.isenburg@rapidlasso.com) know.
