Data Management Plan

This report is a summary of a LiDAR data collection over the community of Unalakleet, in the Norton Sound region of Alaska. The original data were collected on October 27, 2005 by AeroMetric, Inc., under contract by Rodney P. Kinney and Associates, Inc. The complete, classified LiDAR dataset was purchased by the State of Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys in 2013 in support of coastal vulnerability mapping efforts. For the purposes of open access to LiDAR datasets in coastal regions of Alaska, this collection is being released as a Raw Data File with an open end-user license. A copy of this data was supplied to the NOAA Office for Coastal Management for incorporation into the NOAA Digital Coast. The classifications of data available from the NOAA Digital Coast are: 1 (Unclassified), 2 (Ground), 3 (Low Vegetation), 4 (Medium Vegetation), 5 (High Vegetation), 6 (Buildings), 9 (Water), 10 (Ignored Ground, breakline proximity).

Original contact information:

Contact Org: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys

Title: GIS Manager

Phone: (907)451-5020

Email: dggsgis@alaska.gov

Process Steps:

• 2005-01-01 00:00:00 - Collection - The raw LiDAR data points were captured using AeroMetric's twin-engine Cessna equipped with a OPTECH 30/70 ALTM 70 kHz LiDAR acquisition system. The system includes differential GPS (DGPS) and inertial navigation systems (INS) to provide the necessary trajectory accuracy.
• 2006-01-01 00:00:00 - Processing - The airborne trajectory solution was processed in Applanix's POSPac v. 4.4, which first computes a 2 Hz Post Processed Kinematic (PPK) DGPS trajectory, then integrates the 200 Hz inertial measurement unit data for a final smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET). This SBET is then integrated with the LiDAR pulse data, utilizing Optech's REALM software, for a final x,y,z 'point cloud' dataset in industry standard LAS (LiDAR Accuracy Standard) format in the NAD83, Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Zone 4 Meters coordinate system with ellipsoidal heights.
• 2013-01-01 00:00:00 - Migration and calibration - For this delivery, AeroMetric gathered the necessary data from the Unalakleet archive drive. Using GeoCue (V2012.1.27.5), AeroMetric converted the LAS swath data to NAVD88 GEOID09, NAD83 UTM Zone 4. The archived LAS swath data lacked return and scan angle information. Individual points were classified based on return number. Using proprietary in-house software, AeroMetric was able to use these classifications and timestamps to calculate the point return fields. Polygons were digitized along flight line edges to re-class the geometrically unreliable points near the extreme edge of the swath to help with calibration. An in-situ calibration was performed using the data collect for this project. The dataset was classified in each line separately for ground and other common features between lines, such as building roofs. This dataset was processed in TerraSolid's TerraMatch (Version 11.001) to compute corrections for roll, pitch, heading, and mirror scale. These corrections are applied in order to minimize discrepancies between flight lines.
• 2013-01-01 00:00:00 - Classification - AeroMetric preformed automated classification of the bare-earth data from the LiDAR point cloud using a series of algorithms customized for the types of terrain encountered in the project. This step was followed by manual classification of any data which appeared to be poorly classified using the automated methods. Breaklines were digitized along coast and water bodies that met project standards listed above.
• 2013-01-01 00:00:00 - Verification - Rodney P. Kinney (RPK) and Associates provided AeroMetric with Post Processed Kinematic (PPK) Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QAQC) data, to check the vertical accuracy of these LiDAR data. The 2006 control file had to be translated by AeroMetric from GEOID99 to GEOID09. A comparison between the QAQC and the LiDAR point data were made using TerraScan, to determine any vertical bias in the data. An adjustment of 0.21 meters was applied to the LiDAR data in order to match the provided QAQC data.
• 2013-01-01 00:00:00 - Classified LAS 1.1 files - AeroMetric created classified LAS 1.1 files using the client provided tiling scheme. The points within each tile are sorted sequentially in order of acquisition, and have adjusted GPS timestamps. Note: that the Acquisition and Processing Report provided by AeroMetric incorrectly cites the deliverable format as LAS 1.3.
• 2014-01-01 00:00:00 - File compression - LAS files were compressed to LAZ format to facilitate online distribution
• 2014-05-13 00:00:00 - The lidar files were received by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management for incorporation into the NOAA Digital Coast. The data consisted of 19 lidar files. The data were in LAS format 1.1 and were in UTM, Zone 4, NAD83, meters coordinates. The data were in NAVD88 (Geoid09), meters vertical units. The classifications of the data are: 1 (Unclassified), 2 (Ground), 3 (Low Vegetation), 4 (Medium Vegetation), 5 (High Vegetation), 6 (Buildings), 9 (Water), 10 (Ignored Ground, breakline proximity). For Digital Coast data storage and provisioning, the NOAA OCM performed the following processing: 1. The data were reviewed for any elevation outliers. 2. The data were converted from UTM, Zone 4 coordinates to geographic coordinates. 3. The data were converted from NAVD88 elevations to ellipsoid elevations using Geoid09. 4. The data were zipped to laz format.

This data can be obtained on-line at the following URL:

https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/#/lidar/search/where:ID=3648

This data set is dynamically generated based on user-specified parameters.;