Expressing real landscapes as terrains: from LiDAR to Unity

I'd like to adapt some aerial 3D laser scan (LiDAR) data into a Unity terrain (see bottom for the data itself).

There are lots of ways to approach t$$anonymous$$s, but if you've been down t$$anonymous$$s road any criticism is welcome for my proposed steps below:

• Extract a DEM from a LiDAR dataset via LAStools

• Combine hero DEM with outlying, lower resolution DEMs, to gracefully handle the borders of the $$anonymous$$gh resolution area

• Convert DEM to image (GeoTIFF), export as type “.data” from Gimp/PhotoShop to obtain a Unity-compatible RAW file In Unity, import RAW file → Real World Terrain (https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/8752)

• Using Real World Terrain, texture terrain with 0.25m sat images

• Export Unity terrain

• In Unity, import DATA/RAW file → Gaia / Map Magic

• Add forests, grasses, other vegetation

• Export Unity terrain Add sky, ocean elements

As an option for the terrain input above, I could triangulate that LiDAR point data into a mesh, then convert the main to a Unity terrain via 'Mesh to Terrain' or similar.

p.s. -- Here is a link to some of the USGS Big Sur LiDAR data (ARRA-CA Aug 27 2014) that I'm using: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset?q=&sort=views_recent+desc&collection_package_id=55e67773-09ac-459c-8be3-3fb2750ddc9b&as_sfid=AAAAAAWPrPaCYlhEpBe0ubd7kLLIqD7qO1pecVRFlfYwc2hCSEi0uAko2vlLkquWslmPA8-n75vdhS8P-o-zQe1wQBajFz5hErQ-hvDfTkKYpLNkUlpt1oHH-8wcSvzD81OXH8s%3D&as_fid=a59d488213daf5ded4172bbaae393fd840d8841b&ext_location=Big+sur%2C+CA+%2893920%29&ext_bbox=-121.9022%2C35.7942%2C-121.1957%2C36.335&ext_prev_extent=