2022 NOAA OCM Topobathy Lidar: Washington Island, WI

Create custom data files by choosing data area, product type, map projection, file format, datum, etc. A new metadata will be produced to reflect your request using this record as a base. Change to an orthometric vertical datum is one of the many options.

Bulk download of data files in LAZ format, geographic coordinates, orthometric heights. Note that the vertical datum (hence elevations) of the files here are different than described in this document. They will be in an orthometric datum.

The Data Access Viewer (DAV) allows a user to search for and download elevation, imagery, and land cover data for the coastal U.S. and its territories. The data, hosted by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management, can be customized and requested for free download through a checkout interface. An email provides a link to the customized data, while the original data set is available through a link within the viewer.

This graphic shows the lidar coverage for the 2022 topobathy lidar acquisition around Washington Island in northern Green Bay.

Link to custom download, from the Data Access Viewer (DAV), the raster Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data that were created from this lidar data set.

Link to the Dewberry lidar report.

Data were processed to an initial LAS format using Teledyne CARIS software. CARIS was also utilized for GPS and inertial processing, and Terrasolid and LAStools were used for data visualization, 3D editing, and export to final LAS/LAZ. Data were processed using NAD83(2011) horizontal and vertical datums. The data are in UTM Zone 16 coordinates and NAVD88 elevations in meters. The data classifications are: unclassified (1); ground (2); noise (7); water surface (topographic sensor) (18); bathymetric bottom (40); water surface (41); derived water surface (42); submerged object, not otherwise specified (e.g., wreck, rock, submerged piling) (43); and no bottom found (bathymetric lidar point for which no detectable bottom return was received) (45).

The boresight for each lift was done individually as the solution may change slightly from lift to lift. The initial points for each mission calibration were inspected for flight line errors, flight line overlap, slivers or gaps in the data, point data minimums, or issues with the lidar unit or GPS. Roll, pitch and scanner scale were optimized during the calibration process until the relative accuracy was met.

Dewberry utilized Bayesmap StripAlign for this alignment procedure. This alignment procedure corrected systematic issues globally, per aircraft lift, per flightline, and finally based on local errors along the flight trajectory. Error adjustments included internal sensor parameters. Due to the complex geometric relationship of the elliptical scan pattern the forward and reverse directions must be aligned independently. Additionally, since the green and NIR scanner map different surfaces, they were also aligned independently, then corrected to match each other.

Difference rasters (DZ orthos) were generated, adjustment parameters were reviewed, and registration/match regions were reviewed to ensure data quality.

A final vertical accuracy check of the boresighted flight lines was completed against the surveyed check points after the z correction to ensure the requirement of NVA = 19.6 cm 95% Confidence Level was met.

Point classification was performed according to USGS Lidar Base Specification 2.1. Bare earth DEMs were exported from the classified point cloud. Synthetic points generated by CZMIL refraciton correction algorithms are present in this dataset. Please see the final project report for more details on the synthetic points

Dewberry used algoritms in TerraScan to create the intial ground/submerged topography surface.

Dewberry used rasterized aggregate extents of refracted points to create automated 2-D breaklines with LAStools and ArcGIS. Light travels at different speeds in air versus water and its speed and direction of travel change when it enters the water column. The refraction correction process accounts for this difference by adjusting the depth (distance traveled) and horizontal position (change of angle/direction) of the lidar points acquired within water. These breaklines delineate areas where the refraction correction was applied to the lidar data by CZMIL's automated refraction correction software based on the software's detection of water. The class 42 synthetic surface is generated by the software as a reference surface from which to perform the correction.

Dewberry used the 2-D refraction extents and additional bathy features to classify the bathymetric bottom and ground points properly in TerraScan.

Geometrically unused points at the edges of flight lines were flagged using the withheld bit. This includes synthetically generated class 42 (synthetic water surface) points at the edges of flight lines. All class 42 points were flagged using the synthetic bit. The withheld bit was set on class 7 and class 18 in TerraScan after all classification was complete.

All lidar data was peer-reviewed. Dewberry's QAQC also included creating void polygons for use during review. All necessary edits were applied to the dataset. LASTools software was used to update LAS header information, including all projection and coordinate reference system information. The final lidar data are in LAS format 1.4 and point data record format 6.

All data was then verified by an Independent QC department within Dewberry. The independent QC was performed by separate analysts who did not perform manual classification or editing. The independent QC involved quantitative and qualitative reviews.

The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) received 2630 topobathy las files from Dewberry for northern Green Bay, Wisconsin. The lidar data had elevation and intensity measurements. The data were in UTM Zone 16N (NAD83 2011), meters coordinates and NAVD88 (Geoid18) elevations in meters. The data were classified as: 1 - Unclassified, 2 - Ground, 7 - Low Noise, 18 - High Noise, 40 - Bathymetric Point, 41 - Water Surface , 42 - Derived Water Surface , 43 - Submerged Object, 45 - No bathymetric bottom found. OCM processed all classifications of points to the Digital Coast Data Access Viewer (DAV). Classes available on the DAV are: 1, 2, 7, 18, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45.

OCM performed the following processing on the data for Digital Coast storage and provisioning purposes:

1. An internal OCM script was run to check the number of points by classification, by flight ID, the gps times, and intensity ranges.

2. Internal OCM scripts were run on the las files to, convert from UTM Zone 16N (NAD83 (2011) meters coordinates to geographic coordinates, to convert from NAVD88 meters elevations to ellipsoid elevations using the NOAA NGS Geoid18 model, to assign the geokeys, to sort the data by gps time and zip the data to database and to AWS S3.