Pointerra
Contact Us
  1. Support
  2. Managing Project Datasets
  3. Supported Spatial Dataset formats
Updated: 02 September 2026

Supported Spatial Dataset formats

The following are the currently supported dataset formats that can by imported and added to a Point Clouds project.   We are constantly improving this functionality and adding support for more formats.  Please contact us by lodging a support request if you have other dataset formats you would like supported.

Vectors

  • Keyhole Markup Language (.kml, .kmz)

  • Shape File (.shp)

  • Drawing eXchange Format (.dxf)

  • GeoJSON (.geojson)

  • ESRI GDB (.gdb)

  • Microstation DGN V8 (.dgn)

  • Drawing file (.dwg)

KML is the ideal format for importing 3D vectors, as our 3D viewer natively supports KML (points, lines, polygons, NOT Collada).  It will also honour any custom styling applied to features.

For large datasets, SHP is likely the best format, as its simple structure ensures that feature attributes are imported reliably for feature queries.

For ESRI GDB format files should be uploaded as a zip file in the form YOUR_FILENAME.gdb.zip

3D Models

  • Cesium 3D Tiles (.zip)

    • We accept the B3DM and the GLB formats that are exported from certain software. Please make sure the model is in a single ZIP file before uploading, and select "3D Tileset" as the Source Type.

  • Wavefront OBJ (.obj, with .mtl and texture images)

  • Autodesk FBX (.fbx)

  • STL (.stl geometry only)

  • IFC (.ifc, .ifczip)

    • Supported schema versions: IFC2X3, IFC4, IFC4X1, IFC4X2, and IFC4X3 (including the ADD1, ADD2, TC1 and RC1–RC4 editions).

    • IFC files must be in the standard STEP/SPF encoding. IFC-JSON and ifcXML (.ifcxml) files are not currently supported.

  • Texture file formats (PNG, JPG, TIF and BMP)

  • ZIP uploads

    • A ZIP may contain either a valid 3D Tileset, or exactly one model file (.obj, .ifc, .ifczip, .dxf, .fbx, .stl) together with its materials and textures. ZIPs containing more than one model file are rejected.


3D Tilesets

Cesium 3D Tiles are the ideal format for importing 3D models as it supports Level-Of-Detail tiles for optimal online viewing.  It is recommended that the Cesium 3D Tiles be uploaded in a zip file. If you want to provide the original CAD files for download as well, other zip files may also be uploaded, these will be ignored during the import but will be available for download.

NOTE Cesium 3D Tiles are only supported with georeferenced point clouds. If you want to display a 3D model with an ungeoreferenced point cloud use either .obj or .ifc.

When uploading a 3D model in any of the other supported formats, we provide the option to optimize the 3D model for web streaming using the Cesium Ion service.  If your Reality Model / Surface Mesh model is larger than a few megabytes, this is recommended to get the optimal viewing experience. However, Cesium Ion is no longer required for CAD Models, as Pointerra's enhanced CAD tiler now provides improved attribute handling and a better web viewing experience.

Object attributes from IFC models

IFC models import their attribute data along with their geometry. Select any object in the viewer to see its attributes, or use the Object hierarchy panel to browse, search and filter objects by attribute value.

Imported for each object:

  • Object name, IFC type (for example IfcWall), material, and presentation layers.

  • Its position in the model's spatial hierarchy (Project, Site, Building, Storey).

  • Property sets: all single-value properties from both standard (Pset_*) and custom property sets, listed as "Property set | Property name".

  • Quantity sets: lengths, areas, volumes and counts from element quantity sets (Qto_*), including nested quantities.

  • Properties defined on the element's IFC type, in addition to those set on the element itself.

Not currently imported: enumerated, list, bounded and table-valued properties, and IFC extended properties.

Attribute import requires the model to be processed by Pointerra's own tiling pipeline. Models tiled through Cesium Ion are imported as geometry only. If attributes are missing from a model you expected to have them, check the dataset's source type and processing options.

GIS Imagery

  • ECW (.ecw)

  • GeoTIFF tiles (.tif/.tiff)

  • JPG2000 (.jp2)

  • JPG with JGW world file

  • PNG with PGW world file

ECW/JP2 will generally offer the best performance for very large raster imagery datasets.  Large datasets stored as GeoTIFF should be spatially tiled to enable reasonable performance.

Photos set

360 Photos

Digital Elevation Model

  • 32bit Elevation GeoTIFF tiles (.tif)

Video Files

  • MPEG-4 (.mp4)

  • Audio Video Interleave (.avi)

  • WebM (.webm)

  • QuickTime File Format (.mov)

  • Matroska (.mkv)

  • MPEG-1/MPEG-2 (.mpg)

360 Video Files

  • MPEG-4 (.mp4)

Trajectories for Video Files

  • GPS Exchange Format (.GPX)

  • DJI SRT (.srt)

v1.12.0