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2019 and 2020 Utah Aerial Lidar Acquisition - Updated

Author · Rick Kelson
Published · Sep 16, 2019
Last modified · May 2, 2024
Category · SGID Updates
Read time · 3 min

UGRC has awarded Aero-Graphics, Inc. and The Sanborn Map Company, Inc. to acquire 26,036 square miles, opens in a new tab of aerial Lidar elevation data. The Lidar will be a combination of USGS Quality Level 1 (QL1), 8 points per square meter and Quality Level 2 (QL2), 2 points per square meter depending on the area. The 2019 QL2 project covering portions of Kane County, Utah was acquired last fall, is going through USGS Quality Assurance, and is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2020. (Due to Covid-19 related setbacks deliverables should be available by November 2020.) The 2020 acquisitions have begun and will continue throughout the year. These project areas will be completed in 2021 and project deliverables are scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2021.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Map 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) are also acquiring 13,681 square miles, opens in a new tab of aerial Lidar in Utah this year. The Lidar will mostly be QL2, with a few small areas as QL1. The acquisitions will begin in the fall of 2020 and project deliverables are scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2023.

You are welcome to download the boundaries for all the project areas as a shapefile, opens in a new tab.

Project area map

UPDATE 10/17/2023

All 2019 and 2020 project areas are completed and available for download from Raster.utah.gov, opens in a new tab, from the Lidar section of our Elevation and Terrain Data webpage, or from the individual web pages for each project listed below:

The Project Areas Include

  • Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
  • Bears Ears National Monument
  • Capitol Reef National Park
  • Arches National Park
  • Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
  • Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
  • Sections of the Green and Colorado Rivers
  • Portions of the Greater Sevier Watershed
  • Portions of the Manti-La Sal, Fishlake, Ashley, Wasatch-Cache, Uintah, and Dixie National Forests
  • Areas within:
    • All 29 Utah Counties
    • 58 of the 253 Utah Municipalities
    • 30 of the 249 Utah Cities & Towns

The Project Deliverables

  • Raw Point Cloud
  • Classified Point Cloud (2 or 8 points per square meter with 10cm vertical RMSE)
    • Ground (bare earth)
    • Water
    • Bridge decks
    • Snow (if present and identifiable)
    • Low and High Noise
    • Processed, but unclassified
  • Bare-Earth Terrain Model (DTM) (0.5 or 1 meter cell size with 10cm vertical RMSE with Hydro-Flattening)
  • First Return Surface Model (DSM) (0.5 or 1 meter cell size with 10cm vertical RMSE) (not available for FEMA HQ areas)
  • Intensity Images (0.5 or 1 meter resolution GeoTIFFs) (not available for FEMA HQ areas)
  • Metadata

The Project Partners

  • U.S. Geological Survey National Map: 3D Elevation Program (3DEP)
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • Utah Division of Emergency Management
  • National Resource Conservation Service
  • U.S. Forest Service
  • Utah Geological Survey
  • Cryq Energy, Inc.

Comments, questions, compliments, or concerns can be directed to:

Rick Kelson