PARADIGM Geospatial

0+00Platform · File formats

Formats that keep the whole survey together.

Scans, projects, photos and linework each have a Paradigm format built for the way survey work changes. They open without reading everything, carry their coordinate system inside, and let you re-register or re-classify without converting again. Open standards come in and go out whenever the work moves on.

Runway.pgc2317,660,485 points · 3.16 GB
Header 4 KB · XXH64 checksum Points to everything else
  • Node index Octree in Morton order · 32 bytes a node · bounds and where each node's data sits
  • Coordinate system WKT · horizontal and vertical EPSG · epoch · units · XXH64
  • Point data, node by node XYZ · colour · intensity · class · normals · planarity · linearity · LZ4

Opening reads the header, the node index and the coordinate system. Point data loads node by node, for the part of the scan in view.

Against its E57
−41 %Same 317.7 M points, with more stored per point
Storage step
≤ 1 mmFor 99.3 % of points; no point moves more than 1.8 mm
In one file
13.06billion pointsUSGS 3DEP lidar of Lāna'i, from 1,569 LAZ tiles
Checked on open
XXH64The header and the coordinate system

1+00.pgc2 · the scan

One scan. One file. Everything in it.

Convert a scan once and the .pgc2 that comes out is what you work from: Collector writes it in the field and Surveyor opens it in the office. It holds the points, everything measured or computed about them, and the coordinate system they're in.

  • Opens without reading it all

    Opening reads the header and the node index, then loads point data piece by piece for the part of the scan in view. Scans larger than your graphics memory stream in as you move.

  • Everything travels together

    Colour, intensity, classification, normals, planarity and linearity are stored for every point, with scan angle, user data and source IDs when you keep them. The coordinate system rides in the file: the full WKT, horizontal and vertical EPSG codes, the epoch, and units in metres, US survey feet or international feet.

  • Levels of detail built in

    Each node of the octree holds a sampled copy of the points beneath it, so a distant view draws a fraction of the points. In the Runway scan those copies add 6.6 %.

  • Checked, and written safely

    The header and the coordinate system carry XXH64 checksums that are verified every time the file opens. The converter writes to a temporary file, flushes it to disk and renames it into place, so an interrupted conversion never leaves a broken file where the finished one should be.

Lāna'i City coloured by the USGS classification stored with the scan
Lāna'i City by the classification stored with the scan: ground in orange, everything standing on it in grey. USGS 3DEP lidar in Surveyor.

2+00Measured

Smaller than the E57 it came from.

Two Trimble X9 airfield scans, converted to .pgc2 with LZ4-HC compression. Each .pgc2 is about 40 % smaller than its E57 and 70 % smaller than LAS 1.2, and it carries normals, planarity, linearity and levels of detail that neither source has.

Runway317,660,485 points in every file
  • LAS 1.2 10.80 GB
  • E57 5.38 GB
  • .pgc2 3.16 GB
ScanPointsE57LAS 1.2.pgc2Against E57
Runway 317,660,485 5.38 GB 10.80 GB 3.16 GB −41 %
Main area 392,986,076 6.66 GB 13.36 GB 4.04 GB −39 %

The same points in every file. Each E57 holds one scan with intensity and colour and no images; the LAS files are point format 3. Decimal gigabytes, measured 17 October 2026. Against LAZ the result depends on what the .pgc2 carries: 13,060,946,265 points of USGS 3DEP lidar of Lāna'i take 164.3 GB as 1,569 LAZ tiles, 108.9 GB as one .pgc2 with position, intensity and classification, and 162.6 GB as one .pgc2 with normals added.

3+00Precision

Precision you can state.

Positions are stored relative to each node's box, on a grid that gets finer as the nodes get smaller. In the Runway scan, 99.3 % of points sit on a grid of 1 mm (0.0033 ft) or finer, the resolution of the LAS it came from. The coarsest grid anywhere in the file is 3.6 mm, so no point moves more than 1.8 mm.

Survey coordinates stay in double precision. The graphics card only ever sees small offsets from a local origin, and every export rebuilds each point in double precision from what is stored.

Runway scanPoints
Stored on a 0.5 mm grid or finer95.7 %
Stored on a 1 mm (0.0033 ft) grid or finer99.34 %
Coarsest grid anywhere in the file3.6 mm
Largest move from the source position1.8 mm

In the main-area scan, 98.65 % of points are stored on a 1 mm grid or finer.

4+00Registration and classification

Change the registration, not the points.

In a registration workspace every scan keeps its points in its own frame, and the registration lives in the scan poses. Registering again, adding scans or moving the job to a new frame edits the poses and the metadata. The points are never rewritten.

  • A new frame without a new conversion

    Moving a 495-million-point, 6.23 GB workspace from metres into a project frame in US survey feet moved all 64 scan poses exactly, to nine decimal places of a foot. The point data stayed where it was and the file size didn't change.

  • Classify again, keep the scan

    Classification is stored beside the scan in a .pgclass file fingerprinted to that exact dataset. Run it again without converting again; a classification made for a different dataset is refused.

5+00.pgsvy · the project

Projects that remember.

A Surveyor project is one .pgsvy file. Collector writes it in the field, Surveyor opens it as-is, and CAD can record its saves in the same project's journal.

  • Restore points that never destroy

    Every restore point is stored by the SHA-256 of its content, and restoring an earlier one never deletes anything.

  • Proof of what you delivered

    Every export you commit is logged in the project with its SHA-256 fingerprint (files over 2 GiB by size), so you can show exactly which file went to the client.

  • Pack & Go

    The whole project packs into one ZIP64 file. When a moved project looks for its files again, it re-links each one only when it can prove it is the same file.

  • Back after a crash

    When a project opens after a crash, interrupted operations are marked abandoned, stray files are set aside and completed work is replayed. How the jobs stay safe

6+00.pgci · photos

Photos that know where they were taken.

A .pgci packs a photo set with each photo's GPS position, heading, RTK precision and gimbal angles, plus a spatial index to find them. The original image bytes are kept exactly, HEIC photos from phones and drones open without installing a Windows codec, and each section of the file carries its own checksum.

6+50.pgcv · linework

Linework that keeps its true coordinates.

Vector layers in .pgcv keep full double-precision coordinates as the survey record. The simplified shapes drawn at a distance each record how far they depart from the true geometry. Surveyor opens and exports .pgcv.

7+00Open standards

In and out, app by app.

Paradigm formats are where the work lives; open standards are how it arrives and how it leaves. Each app reads and writes the formats below.

SurveyorPoint cloud production

Brings in
  • LAS
  • LAZ
  • E57
  • PLY
  • PTS
  • PTX
  • Trimble TDX / TZF
  • RealWorks RWP
  • CSV / TXT / PNT points
  • Trimble FXL codes
  • JPG / TIFF / HEIC photos
  • DXF / DWG reference
  • .pgc2
  • .pgcv
Delivers
  • LAS 1.4
  • LAZ
  • E57
  • .pgc2
  • LandXML 1.2 TIN
  • DXF linework & contours
  • Shapefile
  • CSV / TXT points
  • GeoTIFF DEM
  • GLB mesh
  • KML / KMZ photos
  • .pgcv
  • Project archive (ZIP64)

CADSurvey drafting

Opens
  • DXF R12–2018
  • DWG 2000–2018, within tested limits
  • LandXML 1.0–2.0
  • OBJ
  • CSV / TXT points
Saves and exports
  • DXF R12–2018
  • DWG 2013
  • PDF
  • STEP
  • STL
  • CSV / TXT points
  • eTransmit ZIP

PuckPlan sheets

Opens
  • PDF
  • Images
  • DXF
Exports
  • DXF
  • GeoJSON
  • CSV
  • PDF with searchable text

CollectorField scanning

Runs
  • Trimble X7 (R2.6.x)
Writes
  • .pgsvy project
  • .pgc2 scans
  • .pgci photos
  • E57 per station
  • JPEG panoramas

Pg-GPSGNSS post-processing

Reads
  • RINEX 2 and 3 observation and navigation
  • NOAA CORS downloads
Writes
  • STAR*NET .dat
  • Surveyor hand-off (PNEZD CSV, GeoJSON, DXF)
  • Reports (Markdown, JSON, CSV)

Platform

The rest of the platform.