free online LIDAR sources??? 1

[Emil's Dad]

Hi - could anyone recommend the best free (publicly available) online LIDAR source/s ? we nee dto create some prelim topo maps, and none of the sites I visit (NRCS, USDA, USGS, Missouri maps...) seem like they work very well - just can't get results... please advise... thanks.

 

[TigerGuy]

Some county offices have rough contours available on their GIS maps. My experience is that these are slightly better than using the USGS Topographic maps. Most of the civils I work for just trace the county contours onto the plan to start, until the survey crews can get to the site.

 

[Emil's Dad]

thanks very much - yeah, we were tracing avail contours too - was just hoping there was a better LIDAR option out there at this point - guess just need to pay for it...

 

[TigerGuy]

There are limited LIDAR sites available in some areas. We use one to help determine whether a mapped earthquake fault is in the vicinity of a project site.

 

[TerryScan]

NOAA had some really good LIDAR in coastal areas and other select areas:

Digital Coast Data Access Viewer

 

[eea]

Sounds like you are in Missouri since you mentioned Missouri maps. Have you talked with MoDOT? I'm in Illinois and IDOT is on their second round of LiDAR mapping the entire state, see https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/data/elevation/illinois-height-modernization-ilhmp. I thought this effort was Federally funded for all states? MoDOT's website and design manual mentions an annual LiDAR mapping effort, but I wasn't able to track down a webpage with files by county. Now that I posted Illinois' link, the ISGS is hosting their files, so it could be similar in Missouri and not on MoDOT's website?

 

[Emil's Dad]

Great - yes, we do site development mostly (not much road design) but will reach out to MoDOT (and USACE, USGS, et al) to see what they recommend - thanks & Happy New Year, Mike