I created a tutorial about 10 years ago on how to download topo data from the US National Map Viewer (at the time a GeoTIFF was the best format option) and convert it to a DEM (using a freeware program called 3DEM) that could be imported into APCD. That tutorial used to be posted in the Tutorial Corner section of the old LC site, but I don't think all those old files made the transition to the new site. I still have it as a PDF.Adelade wrote: ↑May 22nd, 2022, 11:33 am The way I heard it, is that unlike APCD, the course designer program for the TGC series was made to (or perhaps modded to) be able to import Lidar data straight away. And if thats true, Im guessing those guys on the TGC forums would not be able to help in terms of what APCD needs.
I didnt watch the videos, but I think its also worth keeping in mind that there is such a thing as too many elevation points. It might be very messy to work with in APCD if the elevation points are too dense, at least if they are so everywhere.
One of the main issues with importing DEMs into APCD is that the maximum number of verts that can be imported is 100,000. With GeoTIFF data, that meant that the maximum resolution for the source data was somewhere between 3m and 10m data (i.e. 1 vert every 3m or 10m). 3m data was likely going to exceed the 100,000 vert import limit unless the plot was very compact (small area or efficient footprint like a square).
I suspect LIDAR data in its native resolution would greatly exceed the 100,000 vert import limit without some sort of pre-processing in a separate program like ArcGIS to reduce the vert resolution so that it gets below the limit for the import. I've never tried ArcGIS due to the cost. I had dabbled with some freeware GIS apps at the time but they were pretty clunky interfaces.
Occasionally on the old LC site there were subtle hints among the top designers that there was a custom insider version of APCD that increased or eliminated the vert import limit. I'd asked several times but never got any confirmation that such a version did exist. Usually the response was dismissive like "too many verts makes APCD slow down and hard to work with." A course I had been working on was well over 100,000 verts (through manual addition, not via import) and I didn't have any issues. Maybe it was an issue originally on older PC technology but it seems to be less of an issue now.
LIDAR definitely could be a huge improvement in terms of capturing greens contour and bunker shaping, but it would likely have to be accompanied by strategic pre-processing in a GIS app to prep it for import into APCD, especially if no workaround for the vert limit could be found.
John