Best sources for free LIDAR point clouds (probably LAS or LAZ format):
US Interagency Elevation Inventory: https://coast.noaa.gov/inventory/
For MICRODEM, the data must be in UTM or geographic coordinates. There are options to reproject with MICRODEM, liblas, or lastools.
Source and directions | Web site | Notes |
OpenTopography | http://www.opentopography.org/ | |
NOAA Coastal Lidar | Graphical:
https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/ (Flash required) Projects list: http://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/?dataregistry/#/coastallidar Digital Coast |
Some surveys may penetrate water; others only coastal strips of land. For many areas several dates are available, showing temporal change. |
National Map | https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/ |
The National Map has two advantages over Earth Explorer
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USGS Earth Explorer | http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ |
![]() Importing the region desired from a KML or shapefile can be helpful. You must have logged in for these to work. Must be logged in to see the bulk download option. ![]() Must add results to bulk download one screen (10 files) at a time, using the checkbox under Result Controls. Then view cart, checkout, and wait for email to start bulk download (which might have institutional permission issues, and should be done at home). There appears to be a limit of 100 files; you might have to create multiple orders. You should be parsimonious is what you select, as even 100 tiles can be a 25 GB download. In addition, the 100 files you set will have an interesting spatial pattern, making it hard to fill in the holes later. |
USGS TNM Download | https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/#cart |
Pick lidar under data, and select the region Add tiles to the cart. You can select all on a page at the top right of the list of tiles. View the cart Use the Export Items to CSV ![]() |
USGS Coastal | http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/lsrm/data/products_year.html | |
Status of state mapping | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lidar_Dataset_(United_States) | Countries with good national lidar: Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, UK, Wales |
Problems with ftp data download? Your network might view these downloads as a security risk.
Other sites
LVIS: http://lvis.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.php
Commercial LIDAR clearing house:
last revision 11/14/2017