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. LAS lidar
General caveats:
Source and directions | Web site | Notes |
USGS TNM Download National Map directions | https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/ | Probably the best starting location in the US |
3DEP Lidar Explorer | https://apps.nationalmap.gov/lidar-explorer/#/ | Alternate USGS source I have not used much |
OpenTopography directions | https://opentopography.org/ | Mostly US, but now a lot of data from New Zealand. If you have an edu email, you can get USGS and NOAA lidar. |
NOAA Coastal Lidar directions | Graphical:
http://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/?# Projects list: http://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/?dataregistry/#/coastallidar Getting lots of data |
Some surveys may penetrate water; others
only coastal strips of land. For many areas multiple dates are
available, showing temporal change. Over 800 data sets now available at OpenTopography to academic users. |
Status of state mapping | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lidar_Dataset_(United_States) |
My asessment 1/3/2023 is that this listing might not be very current. My list and directions, not exhaustive or necessarily current |
Countries with good national lidar: Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, 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 revised 1/3/2023