---
title: "How are square meters calculated for NavVis Desktop Processing? "
slug: "how-are-sqm-calculated-for-on-premise-iv-license"
description: "On-Premise Desktop Processing sqm come from pixels containing points on the XY plane per point cloud, summed across the instance, minus 10% for overlap. Hidden data still counts, as do 3rd party point clouds."
tags: ["License"]
updated: 2024-03-18T09:43:57Z
published: 2024-03-18T09:43:57Z
canonical: "knowledge.navvis.com/how-are-sqm-calculated-for-on-premise-iv-license"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.navvis.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How are square meters calculated for On-Premise Desktop Processing licenses?

## NavVis software calculates the amount of pixels on the XY plane

For each Point cloud loaded, NavVis software calculates the amount of pixels that contain one or more points on the XY plane (i.e., on horizontal floor surfaces). This results in the amount of mapped sqm for each point cloud. Then, it sums up the numbers for all the individual point clouds in the instance. In the end, 10% is subtracted from the total mapped sqm for the instance to account for overlaps between point clouds.

The more Datasets or point clouds that capture parts of the same area, the higher the chance for overlap, which increases the square meter (sqm) calculation. Additionally, when specific data are hidden, the sqm are still counted. This calculation makes no distinction between NavVis point clouds and point clouds from 3rd party providers.

A Point Cloud is as a collection of data points in space that typically represent the external surface of an object or environment. Point clouds are used in various applications, including 3D scanning and mapping, and can be visualized and manipulated using Navvis IVION. You can perform actions such as panning, orbiting, cleaning up noise, cropping, and downloading data in formats like .e57 or .ply. The resolution of point clouds processed with NavVis Software achieves a minimum detail of 5mm, indicating the precision of the spatial data points.

A dataset is a piece of a site, the result of a continuous recording with a NavVis mapping device or the result of an imported point cloud. Datasets can contain panoramic images and point clouds.