The issue goes beyond just this one format, it's about #opendata itself, but don't let that stop you from paying attention because it's "just one" format, or because "I don't use Lidar" (yet). As a practising GIS Professional for 20+ years the process of manipulating data into, through and out of proprietary formats has been the most aggravating source of inefficiency and wasted time throughout. Good GIS analyses are *hard enough already* without adding unnecessary barriers.

I love my data conversion tools. GDAL/OGR, FME and friends have a permanent place in my toolbox. Nevertheless if I…