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  lasthin:

  A simple LIDAR thinning algorithm for LAS/LAZ/ASCII. It places
  a uniform grid over the points and within each grid cell keeps
  only the point with the lowest (or '-highest' or '-random') Z
  coordinate. When keeping '-random' points you can in addition
  specify a '-seed 232' for the random generator.

  Instead of removing the thinned out points from the output file
  you can also mark them as '-withheld'. The you can use the 
  standard '-drop_withheld' or '-keep_withheld' filters to get
  either the thinned points or their complement.

  In order to process very large but sparse grids such as, for
  example, a single but very long diagonal flight line, it is
  beneficial to use the '-sparse' option to avoid exceeding the
  main memory (and start thrashing).

  It is also possible to "thicken" your points as you thin them
  to simulate a diameter for the laser beam. The '-subcircle 0.1'
  option will replicate each point 8 times in a discrete circle
  with radius 0.1 around every original input point. This makes
  sense in combination with '-highest' in order to create a nice
  set of points for subsequent CHM or DSM construction.

  Optionally you can only consider last returns ('-last_only')
  or a particular classification ('-keep_class 2') while doing
  the thinning. There are many other filters to choose from.
  Simply run 'lasthin -h' to lists them all.

  The grid spacing default is 1 unit and it can be changed, for
  example to 5 units, with '-step 5'.
 
  Please license from martin.isenburg@gmail.com to use lasthin
  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:

>> lasthin -i *.las

thins all LAS files with the grid spacing default of 1 unit
and keeps the lowest point per grid cell

>> lasthin -i *.laz -olaz

same but with LAZ files

>> lasthin -i *.txt -iparse xyzt -otxt -oparse xyzt

same but with ASCII files

>> lasthin -i in.las -o out.las

does LAS thinning with the grid spacing default of 1 unit
and keeps the lowest point per grid cell

>> lasthin -i in.las -o out.las -highest -step 2.0

does point thinning with a grid spacing of 2.0 units and
keeps the highest point per grid cell

>> lasthin -i in.laz -step 0.5 -o out.laz -random

does point thinning with a grid spacing of 0.5 units and
keeps a random point per grid cell

>> lasthin -i in.laz -step 0.5 -o out.laz -sparse

does point thinning with a grid spacing of 0.5 units using
a sparse grid representation

>> lasthin -i in.las -o out.las -highest -step 0.5 -subcircle 0.15

does point thinning with a grid spacing of 0.5 units but
thickens every input point by adding a discrete ring of 8
new points that form a circle with radius 0.15 around the
input point before and then keeps only the highest of those
points per grid cell

>> lasthin -i in.laz -o out.laz -first_only

does LIDAR thinning with a grid spacing of 1 unit but keeps
the highest points while considering only first returns

>> lasthin -i in.las -o out.las -keep_class 2 -keep_class 3

looks only at the points classfied as 2 or 3 from in.las and
thins them with a grid spacing of 1 unit 

>> lasthin -i file_list.txt -lof -o combined.laz

looks at all the points from all the LAS or LAZ files listed
in the text file 'file_list.txt', thins them with a grid
spacing of 1 unit and outputs them compressed to 'combined.laz'

for more info:

C:\lastools\bin>lasthin -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 LAS Outputs
  -o lidar.las
  -o lidar.laz
  -o xyzta.txt -oparse xyzta (on-the-fly to ASCII)
  -o terrasolid.bin
  -o nasa.qi
  -odir C:\data\ground (specify output directory)
  -odix _classified (specify file name appendix)
  -ocut 2 (cut the last two characters from name)
  -olas -olaz -otxt -obin -oqfit (specify format)
  -stdout (pipe to stdout)
  -nil    (pipe to NULL)
LAStools (by martin@rapidlasso.com) version 140221 (unlicensed)
usage:
lasthin -i *.las
lasthin -i *.laz -olaz
lasthin -i in.las -o out.las
lasthin -i in.las -step 0.5 -o out.las -highest
lasthin -i in.las -last_only -step 0.5 -sparse -o out.las
lasthin -i in.las -keep_class 2 3 4 -step 2 -o out.las
lasthin -i in.las -random -seed 2 -o out.las
lasthin -h

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