Transmission lines’ live working is one of an effective means to ensure the reliable operation of transmission lines. In order to solve the unsafe problems existing in the implementation of traditional live working, the paper uses ground-based lidar to collect point cloud data. A tile based on the pyramid data structure is proposed to complete the storage and calling of point cloud data. The improved bidirectional filtering algorithm is used to distinguish surface features quickly and obtain a 3D model of the site. Considering the characteristics of live working, the speed of data reading and querying, the nearest point search algorithm based on octree is used to acquire a real- time calculation of the safe distance of each point in the planned path, and the safety of the operation mode is obtained by comparing with the value specified in the regulation, and assist in making decisions of the operation plan. In the paper, the simulation of the actual working condition is carried out by taking the “the electric lifting device ascending” as an example. The experimental results show that the established three-dimensional model can meet the whole process control of the operation, and has achieved practical effect.