Pulse density vs point density

[wiesehahn]

For LiDAR point cloud data the distinction between point density and pulse density is quite important, but also commonly misunderstood.

The extension currently defines pc:density, which represents point density. However, many datasets and acquisition specs also refer to pulse density, which is a different metric since multiple returns can originate from a single emitted pulse.

Would it make sense to add something like pc:pulsedensity to represent this explicitly?

I assume renaming pc:density to pc:pointdensity would be a breaking change and therefore not realistic, but adding a separate field might help avoid ambiguity.

[gadomski]

I'd be 👍🏼 for adding pc:pulse_density (the hypen is pretty common in multi-word extension attributes).

[kylemann16]

@wiesehahn is pulse density more relevant to the sensors that are collecting data or the data itself? If it's more of a sensor attribute, maybe that would be something that would be more relevant to Collections/Catalogs than individual Items?

[wiesehahn]

Can be both I guess. In general it is mostly related to sensor settings / flight conditions. But it is definitely not the exact same thorughout items in one campaign.