A point cloud is a set of data points in space. The points may represent a 3D shape or object. Each point position has its set of coordinates (X, Y, Z). Point clouds are generally produced by 3D scanners or by photogrammetry software, which measures many points on the external surfaces of objects around them. Point clouds are used for many purposes, including to create 3D CAD models for manufactured parts, metrology and quality inspection, and a multitude of visualization, animation, rendering and mass customization applications.
Potree is a free, open-source WebGL based point cloud renderer for large point clouds. It is based on the TU Wien Scanopy project and research projects Harvest4D, GCD Doctoral College and Superhumans.
Yes, you certainly can. As Potree is an open-source project, anyone with a knowledge of point clouds and web development can host a Potree based site. If you would like us to host your data or help deploy your website, we are here to support you.
We host this site using Amazon Web Services. We deploy using ASW Cloudfront, a content delivery platform that ensures high availability, low latency, and secure access. Coupled with serverless functionality using AWS Lambda, we only pay for the data we use, so we don’t have to have a high-performance web server sitting idle, racking up the cost. By going serverless, we also avoid all the complexities of running a web server, with constant updates for security and ongoing maintenance.