---
id: pystac-ext-pointcloud
version: "1.0.1"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# pystac-ext-pointcloud — Point Cloud extension for PySTAC

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 4.0M/mo

## What it is and what it does

pystac-ext-pointcloud is a PySTAC extension package that adds support for the Point Cloud Extension specification to the PySTAC catalog framework. It allows developers to attach standardized point cloud metadata—such as point count, encoding format, density information, schema definitions, and statistical summaries—to STAC items and collections. The package targets version 1.0.0 of the Point Cloud Extension specification and is designed to integrate seamlessly with pystac-core.

The package is actively maintained and supports modern Python versions (3.10 through 3.13). It uses a versioning scheme where the major and minor versions track the extension specification version, with post-releases used for code-only updates. Installation is straightforward with minimal dependencies, making it suitable for projects that need to catalog or query point cloud datasets within a STAC ecosystem.

Use it for:

- Catalog lidar or photogrammetry datasets with standardized point cloud metadata in a STAC collection.
- Add point count, encoding, and density information to STAC items describing 3D point data.
- Build searchable repositories of point cloud data using STAC with extension-compliant metadata.
- Integrate point cloud metadata into geospatial data pipelines that use PySTAC for catalog management.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Extends PySTAC to support the Point Cloud Extension specification, enabling description and cataloging of point cloud datasets with metadata for point count, encoding, density, schemas, and statistics.

Yes, if you are building or maintaining a STAC catalog that includes point cloud datasets. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, carries a permissive license, and requires only one lightweight dependency. Install it only if you actually need to describe point cloud data in STAC; it is not a general-purpose tool.

## Install

pip install pystac-ext-pointcloud
uv add pystac-ext-pointcloud
poetry add pystac-ext-pointcloud

## Installing pystac-ext-pointcloud

Before you install: Low install friction; pure Python wheel with a single runtime dependency on pystac-core. Actively maintained with a recent release (4 days old) and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice: Apache-2.0 permissive license allows use in commercial and open-source projects with minimal restrictions; you must retain license notices and may not use the project's trademarks.

Quickstart:

pip install pystac-ext-pointcloud

from pystac_ext_pointcloud import PointcloudExtension
# Use PointcloudExtension to add point cloud metadata to STAC items

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package provides a public API for programmatic access to point cloud extension fields beyond what pystac-core offers.
- Whether version 1.0.1 introduces breaking changes or is a patch-only release (post-release versioning scheme makes this unclear from metadata alone).

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 4.0M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

point cloud metadata extension, stac point cloud catalog, pystac extension pointcloud, point cloud data description, lidar dataset cataloging, 3d point data stac, stac-extension, point-cloud, geospatial-metadata

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