Mapping for One-Place Studies - a forum

Our prototype Mapping System (M4OPS) => M4OPS - for those responsible for an OPS => Sources of Maps and Geographic Datasets => Topic started by: PeterC on 13 February 2016, 14:57:12

Title: UK LIDAR data
Post by: PeterC on 13 February 2016, 14:57:12
LIDAR data for the UK (but only England for now) is available for free download from the government's GeoStore (http://www.geostore.com/environment-agency/survey.html). There is an article Lasers reveal 'lost' Roman roads (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lasers-reveal-lost-roman-roads) about how "Archaeologists are using Environment Agency laser mapping data to rediscover hundreds of kilometres of 'lost' Roman roads". An earlier article on Free mapping data will elevate flood risk knowledge (https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/2015/06/16/free-mapping-data-will-elevate-flood-risk-knowledge/) gives more details on how LIDAR is used to help the work of the Environment Agency, and this is the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar).

2019 Update
DEFRA now has its own data platform and the LIDAR data is served from there - see the information about eg the LIDAR Composite DSM - 2m (https://environment.data.gov.uk/dataset/e9edb9f6-d563-4a5e-a425-c72c5eac919c). To find the capabilities of this WMS feed we use .../wms?service=wms&request=GetCapabilities (as per this discussion (https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/138830/how-to-get-information-about-layer-structure-on-a-wms)). However in OpenLayers (used by M4OPS) only a LAYERS parameter is required (STYLES is '' by default, VERSION is 1.3.0 by default, WIDTH, HEIGHT, BBOX and CRS are set dynamically.)

2018 Update
Following Enfield Archaeology’s website (http://enfarchsoc.org/opendata/) I have added the UK Environment Agency's (https://data.gov.uk/publisher/environment-agency) LIDAR maps to M4OPS so there is no need for the processes mentioned below. (There is a simple procedure (http://mapping4ops.org/m4ops-for-those-responsible-for-an-ops/to-add-lidar-layers-to-an-ops/) to add these LIDAR feeds to an OPS on M4OPS, so just ask Peter.) For more on LIDAR see this technical overview (https://environment.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=c6cef6cc642a48838d38e722ea8ccfee).

Note that:
Welsh LIDAR
Wales has similar data to England at their http://lle.gov.wales/ (http://lle.gov.wales/) Geo-Portal (developed as a partnership between the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales). The Lidar datasets (http://lle.gov.wales/Catalogue/Item/LidarCompositeDataset/?lang=en) are available as WMTS feeds (http://lle.gov.wales/services/tiles/lidar/wmts) (1m_dsm etc), but not yet using https so cannot be used in M4OPS.



(Old) Notes on LIDAR
I do not find this site easy to use so have added some notes below (and the FAQs (http://www.geostore.com/geostore4/WebStore?xml=geostore4/xml/help.xml) have more useful details).Other data and images

Geostore  (http://www.geostore.com/) also offers for sale photographic prints (framed or unframed) and digital files (jpeg/TIFF/ECW) - all orthorectified, geo-referenced and accurate to +/- 2 metres - for the home user; and many varieties of aerial photography data, height data, maps and geographic business intelligence available to commercial organisations. To buy any of these click on Buy Now (http://www.geostore.com/geostore4/WebStore?xml=geostore4/xml/application.xml) and select your location.

These files come either as a tile or a mosaic:
Title: Re: UK LIDAR data
Post by: PeterC on 17 May 2018, 06:53:53
In 2018 the Environment Agency announced (https://mailchi.mp/f61b697cc81e/a-big-new-year-treat-from-the-environment-agency?e=a303b12c0d) that they plan to survey the whole of England at 1m resolution, completing the coverage by 2020. This will fill the gaps in coverage giving a complete lidar dataset for England, where currently 40% is either unsurveyed or surveyed at only 2m resolution.