A C++ example showing how to load lidar points from .bin file of KITTI dataset.

load_kitti_lidar_bin_file.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>

// e.g. ./main data_tracking_velodyne/testing/velodyne/0000/000000.bin
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  if (argc != 2) {
    std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " <filepath>\n";
    return 1;
  }

  std::string input_filepath(argv[1]);
  std::fstream ifs(input_filepath.c_str(), std::ios::in|std::ios::binary);
  if(!ifs.good()) {
    std::cerr << "Could not read file: " << input_filepath << '\n';
    return -1;
  }
  ifs.seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
  float px = 0.f;
  float py = 0.f;
  float pz = 0.f;
  float intensity = 0.f;
  for (int i = 0; ifs.good() && !ifs.eof(); ++i) {
    ifs.read((char*) &px, sizeof(float));
    ifs.read((char*) &py, sizeof(float));
    ifs.read((char*) &pz, sizeof(float));
    ifs.read((char*) &intensity, sizeof(float));
    std::cout << "pt: [" << px << " " << py << " " << pz << "] intensity: "
        << intensity << '\n';
  }
  ifs.close();

  return 0;
}