How to clip LASD by shape files?

[DavidGuerra1]

Hi,

I have a very large LASD which I want to separate the data by towns.

The numbering code for the las files isn't readily apparent, so I cannot sort the files that way.

I have a map of the state that I have the las files for, and I have shape files (2D) for the towns which I have extracted from the state map.

I want to use the town shape files as a surface constraint for the LASD so that only the las files that fall within that town are saved/are available to do analysis.

Eventually, I want to do this for all of the towns that I have las data for.

How do I go about doing this?
I have tried going into the lasd properties both when creating and after creating an lasd and uploading my shape file as a surface constraint with either a hard or soft clip option, but nothing happens.

Is there a different way to do this? Or am I doing something wrong?

Any help would be appreciated.

[KhalidDuri1]

The surface constraints are only enforced when the LAS dataset is viewed as a surface.  When viewed as points, all LAS files in the LASD will get rendered.

You might want to consider using a mosaic dataset to manage your lidar data. The mosaic layer has a footprint layer that can be attributed with any information. In your case, you can add city names to a field in its table. The field can then be queried to make your desired selection.  I've created a sample for creating a LAS dataset from a mosaic that you can download here to facilitate this type of workflow:

http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d8782286e3c9442bb5c244bf39da5966

[RyanPaquette]

Still looking for a way to extract to simply export a new clipped LASD from an existing LASD without having to load into a mosaic dataset / use a raster format as an intermediate format...  (i.e. Right Click & Export Data functionality)