# VoxelSpace Quickstart Guide VoxelSpace is a volumetric spatial platform that transforms massive terrain, infrastructure, and sensor datasetsinto living 4D environments. Traditional models capture only surfaces—lines, elevations, or textures. Volumetricmodeling uses voxels-3D pixels that store data about each cubic volume. This unlocks new capabilities forsimulation, change detection, infrastructure planning, and geoscience because the entire volume becomes thedataset. VoxelSpace centralizes data in a cloud-hosted repository and offers real-time voxel-level modeling and massive-scale processing using serverless spatial functions called spatial lambdas. # Prerequisites Before getting started, ensure you have: - A VoxelSpace account (the free tier allows up to 5 GB of uploaded data and includes limited compute hours). - Data in supported file formats as outlined in the upload wizards, including common point-cloud, mesh, block-model, and raster formats. # 1. Sign Up & Set Up Your First Project Follow these steps to create your first project: 1\. Navigate to platform.voxelspace.com and log in with your Microsoft, Google identity or your work email. 2\. On the catalog page, click **New Project** 3\. Provide a project name and description 4\. Select your time zone 5\. Accept the default coordinate datums and projections: - WGS 84 horizontal datum - Mean-sea-level vertical datum 6\. Set a voxel resolution or leave the default setting 7\. Submit the form Your new project will appear in the project list. # 2. Prepare and Upload Your Data Inside your project, click **Add Object** **→ Raw Data **and choose the type of dataset you want to import: **Point Cloud** - Upload LiDAR or photogrammetry point clouds - **Supported formats: **.las, .laz, .txt, .xyz, or compressed .zip files - Provide an object name and optional description - Select your file **Mesh** - Upload surface meshes (e.g., .obj files) - When prompted for a column meta label, supply "Default" or another appropriate label - Choose your file **Block Model** - Upload block-model tables - **Supported formats: **.csv, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, or .zip - Map your columns to Origin X, Origin Y, Origin Z, and Value fields - Select horizontal and vertical datums and a projection **Ortho-Imagery** - Upload orthorectified images or mosaics - **Supported formats: **.png, .jpg, .bmp, or .tif - For PNG/JPEG/BMP files, include the corresponding world file (.jgw, .pgw, .tfw, etc.) - GeoTIFFs embed this metadata and can be uploaded directly After choosing the file and completing required fields, click **Create**. A new row appears in the project list showingthe object type, creation time, size, and status icon. Note that raw objects cannot be visualized until they areprocessed. # 3. Process Data into Indexed Datasets To make data queryable and visualizable, convert raw objects into indexed datasets or voxel grids: **Indexed Points** Converts a raw point cloud into a queryable point-cloud dataset. Select your source point cloud and click **Create**. **Indexed Mesh** Similar to Indexed Points but for meshes. Select the raw mesh as source and create an indexed mesh. **Indexed Imagery** Processes ortho-imagery into an indexed raster dataset. **Important:** Only one processing job can run at a time onthe free tier, so subsequent jobs remain queued until the current task finishes. **Voxel Block Model** Converts block-model tables into voxel grids. You can specify: - Translation offsets - Scale factors - Rotation parameters Launch this process only when no other job is queued. **Additional Processing Options** - **Voxel Terrain** - **Ortho Voxel Terrain** - **Voxelised Points** - **Voxelised Mesh** Each option is tailored to specific data types. Processing tasks appear on the **Pending Tasks** page. In the free tier,only one task can run concurrently, so plan your workflow accordingly. # 4. Visualize Your Data Once you have indexed datasets, explore them in the interactive 3D viewer: **Creating a View** 1. Select **New View** from the project or choose **View** from an indexed object 2. Enter a name and description for your view **Working with the View Editor** 1. Click **Add Objects** and select your indexed datasets 2. Datasets appear in the left panel with icons for:Visibility (colored dot) - - Color settings (palette icon) - Bounding-box display - Zoom controls - Visibility (colored dot) **Navigation and Controls** - **Visibility toggle: **Use the colored dot to show/hide datasets - **Camera controls: **Click the cross-hair icon to center the camera on the dataset - **Extent display: **Use the box icon to reveal dataset boundaries - **Manual navigation: **Zoom or pan manually if objects don't appear automatically **Customizing Appearance** - **Color settings: **Access via the palette icon to choose constant colors or gradient schemes - **Point size adjustment: **Set point sizes for point clouds - **Color palettes: **Includes options like Viridis and Plasma - **Raster overlays: **Overlay raster layers on imagery **Toolbar Features** - Switch between navigation tools (select, pan, zoom) - Show or hide the grid - Enter full-screen mode - Automatic camera re-centering when using zoom icons # 5. Explore Advanced Features VoxelSpace offers powerful capabilities beyond basic visualization: **Spatial Calculations** Run serverless **spatial lambdas** to: 1. Compute volumes across datasets 2. Filter data based on specific criteria 3. Derive metrics across trillions of voxels **Temporal Tracking** Add time as a dimension to your datasets to observe changes over time, including: - Erosion monitoring - Construction progress tracking - Fluid movement analysis **Multi-Source Data Fusion** Seamlessly integrate multiple data types into a single voxel grid: - LiDAR point clouds - Drill hole data - Seismic datasets - IoT sensor data - CAD files This unified approach enables comprehensive analysis across diverse data types. **Collaboration and Integration** - **Project sharing: **Collaborate with team members - **Unity export: **Export projects for game engines - **API integration: **Integrate the platform into existing workflows **Conclusion & Next Steps** This quickstart guide has walked you through the core VoxelSpace workflow: - **Project creation **and initial setup - **Data upload **for various formats - **Processing **raw data into indexed datasets - **Visualization **in the interactive 3D viewer Volumetric modeling with voxels captures the full volume of space, enabling insights that traditional surfacemodels cannot provide. **Recommended Next Steps** - Explore additional processing types for your specific data - Experiment with spatial lambdas for advanced analysis - Consider upgrading your plan to access: - Increased storage capacity - Additional compute hours - Concurrent job processing For more advanced tutorials and documentation, visit the VoxelSpace knowledge base or contact support throughthe platform.