Identification

Title

National LIDAR Programme

Alternative title(s)

Abstract

The Environment Agency National LIDAR Programme aims to provide accurate elevation data at 1m spatial resolution for all of England by the end of 2021. The country has been divided into approximately 230 logical blocks with survey starting in November 2016. Surveys are undertaken during winter months (approximately November to April each year) and published through the DEFRA Data Services Portal. LIDAR is an airborne mapping technique which accurately measures the height of the terrain and surface objects on the ground, through the use of a scanning laser that measures the distance between the aircraft and the ground. From this remote sensing technique we produce a number of products available to download: LIDAR Point Cloud: is the discrete LIDAR returns that are used in the creation of the surface models. Supplied in *.laz format they the discrete LIDAR returns have been classified into ground, low, medium and high vegetation classes using an automated classification process. Digital Surface Model(s) (DSM) are created from the last or only LIDAR pulse returned to the sensor and contains all ground and surface objects. Digital Terrain Model(s) (DTM) is created from the last return LIDAR pulse classified as ground, filtering out surface objects. Manual filtering is undertaken on the DTM to improve the automated classification routines to produce a most likely ground surface model. Areas of no data, such as water bodies, are also filled to ensure there are no gaps in the model. First Return Digital Surface Model(s) (FZ DSM) is created from the either the first or only LIDAR pulse returned to the sensor and contains all ground and surface objects. It is more likely to return elevations from the top or near top of trees and the edges of buildings. It can often be used in canopy height modelling and production of building outlines. Intensity Surface Model(s) (Int DSM) is a measure of the amount of laser light from each laser pulse reflecting from an object. This reflectivity is a function of the near infrared wavelength used and varies with the composition of the surface object reflecting the return and angle of incidence.The intensity surface model produces a grayscale image where darker surfaces such as roads reflect less light than other surfaces such as vegetation. All products are available in 5km tiles aligned to the ordnance survey grid. The tiles are named by the unique survey id, OS grid reference and the first and last survey date of the survey id (P_XXXXX_OSOSOS_SDFLOWN_EDFLOWN.*). The surface models are available in GeoTiff raster format whilst the point cloud is available in *.laz. An index catalogue is also available with provides survey specific information about each tile. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2022. All rights reserved.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://environment.data.gov.uk/DefraDataDownload/?Mode=survey

protocol: http

name: Survey Data - Download

description: Download the survey data

https://environment.data.gov.uk/explore/9f0fa3fc-a860-4729-adc9-47fe53f658d0

protocol: http

name: Metadata Shapefile Index Catalogues - Download

description: Download the coverage metadata files

https://environment.data.gov.uk/spatialdata/survey-index-files/wms?request=GetCapabilities&service=WMS

protocol: http

name: Metadata Index Catalogues - WMS

description: Coverage metadata files - Web Map Service

https://environment.data.gov.uk/spatialdata/survey-index-files/wfs?request=GetCapabilities&service=WFS

protocol: http

name: Metadata Index Catalogues - WFS

description: Coverage metadata files - Web Feature Service

https://support.environment.data.gov.uk/space/DPK/15827049/Survey+Data+Catalogue

protocol: http

name: Survey Data FAQs

description: Survey Data FAQs

Unique resource identifier

code

2e8d0733-4f43-48b4-9e51-631c25d1b0a9

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/27700

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

environment

elevation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

LIDAR

environment

elevation

Keyword set

keyword value

Elevation

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

survey

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-01-13

Keyword set

keyword value

remote sensing

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-01-13

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-6.236

East bounding longitude

2.072

North bounding latitude

55.816

South bounding latitude

49.943

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2016-11-11

End position

2021-04-05

Dataset reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2019-03-25

date type

revision

effective date

2023-12-15

Frequency of update

quarterly

Quality and validity

Lineage

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) is an airborne mapping technique, which uses a laser to measure the height of the terrain and surface objects on the ground such as trees and buildings. Hundreds of thousands of measurements per second are made of the ground allowing highly detailed terrain models to be generated at spatial resolutions of between 25cm and 2 metres. The vertical accuracy of the LIDAR dataset is +/-15cm RMSE.

Conformity

Data format

name of format

Open format | Geo Tagged Image File Format (GeoTIFF)

version of format

Not Applicable

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Open Government Licence

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.

Constraint set

Use constraints

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

Environment Agency

email address

DSPcustomerforum@environment-agency.gov.uk

web address

https://environment.data.gov.uk/support

description: Defra Data Services Forum

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

Environment Agency

email address

DSPcustomerforum@environment-agency.gov.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2023-12-18

Metadata language

eng