2016 - 2017 FEMA Lidar: Southwest Virginia & Northeast West Virginia
Data Set (DS) | OCM Partners (OCMP)GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:74963 | Updated: March 3, 2025 | Published / External
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Summary
Short Citation
OCM Partners, 2025: 2016 - 2017 FEMA Lidar: Southwest Virginia & Northeast West Virginia, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/74963.
Full Citation Examples
Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest _A and VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B)
Leading Edge Geomatics (LEG) collected 6069.91 square miles in the Virginia counties of Bland, Buchanan, Craig (partial), Dickenson, Giles, Grayson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe, as well as the cities of Bristol, Galax and Norton in Virginia and the city of Bluefield in West Virginia. The nominal pulse spacing for this project was 1 point every 0.7 meters. Dewberry used proprietary procedures to classify the LAS according to project specifications: 1-Unclassified, 2-Ground, 7-Low Noise, 9-Water, 10-Ignored Ground due to breakline proximity, 17- Bridges, 18-High Noise. Dewberry produced 3D breaklines and combined these with the final lidar data to produce seamless hydro flattened DEMs for the project area. The data was formatted according to the client provided tile naming convention with each tile covering an area of 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters. A total of 7,349 tiles were produced for the Virginia Southwest AOI.
West Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast)
Axis Geospatial, LLC (Axis) collected 2,640 square miles in the West Virginia counties of Mineral, Hampshire, Grant, Hardy and Pendleton. The nominal pulse spacing for this project was 1 point every 0.7 meters. Dewberry used proprietary procedures to classify the LAS according to project specifications: 0-Never Classified, 1-Unclassified, 2-Ground, 7-Low Noise, 9-Water, 10-Ignored Ground due to breakline proximity, 17- Bridges, 18-High Noise. Dewberry produced 3D breaklines and combined these with the final lidar data to produce seamless hydro flattened DEMs for the project area. The data was formatted according to the client provided tile naming convention with each tile covering an area of 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters. A total of 3,242 tiles were produced for the West Virginia Northeast AOI.
This metadata record supports the data entry in the NOAA Digital Coast Data Access Viewer (DAV). For this data set, the DAV is leveraging the Entwine Point Tiles (EPT) hosted by USGS on Amazon Web Services.
Distribution Information
-
Format: Not Applicable
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.
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LAS/LAZ - LASer
Bulk download of data files in LAZ format, UTM 17N NAD83(2011) meters coordinates and elevations in NAVD88 (Geoid12B) meters.
-
LAS/LAZ - LASer
Bulk download of data files in LAZ format, UTM 17N NAD83(2011) meters coordinates and elevations in NAVD88 (Geoid12B) meters.
-
LAS/LAZ - LASer
Bulk download of data files in LAZ format, UTM 17N NAD83(2011) meters coordinates and elevations in NAVD88 (Geoid12B) meters.
None
Users should be aware that temporal changes may have occurred since this data set was collected and some parts of this data may no longer represent actual surface conditions. Users should not use this data for critical applications without a full awareness of its limitations.
Controlled Theme Keywords
elevation, TERRAIN ELEVATION
Child Items
No Child Items for this record.
Contact Information
Point of Contact
NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
coastal.info@noaa.gov
(843) 740-1202
https://coast.noaa.gov
Metadata Contact
NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
coastal.info@noaa.gov
(843) 740-1202
https://coast.noaa.gov
Extents
-83.708724° W,
-80.182698° E,
37.542897° N,
36.528354° S
Southwest Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A and VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B)
2016-11-03 - 2017-04-17
Dates of collection for Southwest Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A and VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B)
Item Identification
Title: | 2016 - 2017 FEMA Lidar: Southwest Virginia & Northeast West Virginia |
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Short Name: | va2016_va_wv_m10279_metadata |
Status: | Completed |
Creation Date: | 2016 |
Publication Date: | 2018 |
Abstract: |
Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest _A and VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B) Leading Edge Geomatics (LEG) collected 6069.91 square miles in the Virginia counties of Bland, Buchanan, Craig (partial), Dickenson, Giles, Grayson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe, as well as the cities of Bristol, Galax and Norton in Virginia and the city of Bluefield in West Virginia. The nominal pulse spacing for this project was 1 point every 0.7 meters. Dewberry used proprietary procedures to classify the LAS according to project specifications: 1-Unclassified, 2-Ground, 7-Low Noise, 9-Water, 10-Ignored Ground due to breakline proximity, 17- Bridges, 18-High Noise. Dewberry produced 3D breaklines and combined these with the final lidar data to produce seamless hydro flattened DEMs for the project area. The data was formatted according to the client provided tile naming convention with each tile covering an area of 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters. A total of 7,349 tiles were produced for the Virginia Southwest AOI. West Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast) Axis Geospatial, LLC (Axis) collected 2,640 square miles in the West Virginia counties of Mineral, Hampshire, Grant, Hardy and Pendleton. The nominal pulse spacing for this project was 1 point every 0.7 meters. Dewberry used proprietary procedures to classify the LAS according to project specifications: 0-Never Classified, 1-Unclassified, 2-Ground, 7-Low Noise, 9-Water, 10-Ignored Ground due to breakline proximity, 17- Bridges, 18-High Noise. Dewberry produced 3D breaklines and combined these with the final lidar data to produce seamless hydro flattened DEMs for the project area. The data was formatted according to the client provided tile naming convention with each tile covering an area of 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters. A total of 3,242 tiles were produced for the West Virginia Northeast AOI. This metadata record supports the data entry in the NOAA Digital Coast Data Access Viewer (DAV). For this data set, the DAV is leveraging the Entwine Point Tiles (EPT) hosted by USGS on Amazon Web Services. |
Purpose: |
The purpose of this lidar data was to produce high accuracy 3D elevation products, including tiled lidar in LAS 1.4 format, 3D breaklines, and 1 meter cell size hydro flattened Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). All products follow and comply with USGS Lidar Base Specification Version 1.2. |
Supplemental Information: |
A complete description of this dataset is available in the Final Project Report that was submitted to the U.S. Geological Survey. The following are the USGS lidar fields in JSON: {
"ldrinfo" : {
"ldrspec" : "USGS-NGP Lidar Base Specification V1.2", "ldrsens" : "Riegl 780", "ldrmaxnr" : "infinite", "ldrnps" : "0.76", "ldrdens" : "1.746", "ldranps" : "0.536", "ldradens" : "3.48", "ldrfltht" : "1800", "ldrfltsp" : "100", "ldrscana" : "60", "ldrscanr" : "68", "ldrpulsr" : "280", "ldrpulsd" : "5", "ldrpulsw" : "1.5", "ldrwavel" : "1064", "ldrmpia" : "1", "ldrbmdiv" : "0.25", "ldrswatw" : "1996", "ldrswato" : "55", "ldrcrs" : "NAD 1983 (2011) UTM Zone 17 Meters", "ldrgeoid" : "National Geodetic Survey (NGS) Geoid12B" }, "ldraccur" : {
"ldrchacc" : "0.196", "rawnva" : "0.125", "rawnvan" : "115", "clsnva" : "0.122", "clsnvan" : "116", "clsvva" : "0.208", "clsvvan" : "83" }, "lasinfo" : {
"lasver" : "1.4", "lasprf" : "6", "laswheld" : "Withheld points were identified in these files using the standard LAS Withheld bit", "lasolap" : "Swath overage points were identified in these files using the standard LAS overlap bit", "lasintr" : "16", "lasclass" : {
"clascode" : "1", "clasitem" : "Processed, but unclassified" }, "lasclass" : {
"clascode" : "2", "clasitem" : "Bare earth, ground" }, "lasclass" : {
"clascode" : "7", "clasitem" : "Low noise" }, "lasclass" : {
"clascode" : "9", "clasitem" : "Water" }, "lasclass" : {
"clascode" : "10", "clasitem" : "Ignored ground due to breakline proximity" }, "lasclass" : {
"clascode" : "17", "clasitem" : "Bridge decks" }, "lasclass" : {
"clascode" : "18", "clasitem" : "High noise" } }} |
Keywords
Theme Keywords
Thesaurus | Keyword |
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Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords |
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > TOPOGRAPHY > TERRAIN ELEVATION
|
ISO 19115 Topic Category |
elevation
|
Spatial Keywords
Thesaurus | Keyword |
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Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords |
CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords |
CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > VIRGINIA
|
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords |
CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > WEST VIRGINIA
|
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords |
VERTICAL LOCATION > LAND SURFACE
|
Instrument Keywords
Thesaurus | Keyword |
---|---|
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Instrument Keywords |
LIDAR > Light Detection and Ranging
|
Platform Keywords
Thesaurus | Keyword |
---|---|
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Platform Keywords |
Airplane > Airplane
|
Physical Location
Organization: | Office for Coastal Management |
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City: | Charleston |
State/Province: | SC |
Data Set Information
Data Set Scope Code: | Data Set |
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Data Set Type: | Elevation |
Maintenance Frequency: | As Needed |
Data Presentation Form: | Model (digital) |
Distribution Liability: |
Any conclusions drawn from the analysis of this information are not the responsibility of NOAA, the Office for Coastal Management or its partners. |
Data Set Credit: | U.S. Geological Survey |
Support Roles
Data Steward
Date Effective From: | 2025 |
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Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Organization): | NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM) |
Address: |
2234 South Hobson Ave Charleston, SC 29405-2413 |
Email Address: | coastal.info@noaa.gov |
Phone: | (843) 740-1202 |
URL: | https://coast.noaa.gov |
Distributor
Date Effective From: | 2025 |
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Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Organization): | NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM) |
Address: |
2234 South Hobson Ave Charleston, SC 29405-2413 |
Email Address: | coastal.info@noaa.gov |
Phone: | (843) 740-1202 |
URL: | https://coast.noaa.gov |
Distributor
Date Effective From: | 2018 |
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Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Organization): | U.S. Geological Survey |
Address: |
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA 20191 USA |
URL: | USGS Home |
Metadata Contact
Date Effective From: | 2025 |
---|---|
Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Organization): | NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM) |
Address: |
2234 South Hobson Ave Charleston, SC 29405-2413 |
Email Address: | coastal.info@noaa.gov |
Phone: | (843) 740-1202 |
URL: | https://coast.noaa.gov |
Point of Contact
Date Effective From: | 2025 |
---|---|
Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Organization): | NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM) |
Address: |
2234 South Hobson Ave Charleston, SC 29405-2413 |
Email Address: | coastal.info@noaa.gov |
Phone: | (843) 740-1202 |
URL: | https://coast.noaa.gov |
Extents
Currentness Reference: | Ground Condition |
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Extent Group 1
Extent Group 1 / Geographic Area 1
W° Bound: | -83.708724 | |
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E° Bound: | -80.182698 | |
N° Bound: | 37.542897 | |
S° Bound: | 36.528354 | |
Description |
Southwest Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A and VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B) |
Extent Group 1 / Time Frame 1
Time Frame Type: | Range |
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Start: | 2016-11-03 |
End: | 2017-04-17 |
Description: |
Dates of collection for Southwest Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A and VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B) |
Extent Group 2
Extent Group 2 / Geographic Area 1
W° Bound: | -79.654337 | |
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E° Bound: | -78.327515 | |
N° Bound: | 39.641471 | |
S° Bound: | 38.393677 | |
Description |
Northeast West Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast) |
Extent Group 2 / Time Frame 1
Time Frame Type: | Range |
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Start: | 2017-03-23 |
End: | 2017-04-27 |
Description: |
Dates of collection for Northeast West Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast) |
Spatial Information
Spatial Resolution
Horizontal Distance: | 0.4 Meter |
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Spatial Representation
Representations Used
Grid: | No |
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Vector: | Yes |
Text / Table: | No |
TIN: | No |
Stereo Model: | No |
Video: | No |
Reference Systems
Reference System 1
Coordinate Reference System |
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Reference System 2
Coordinate Reference System |
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Access Information
Security Class: | Unclassified |
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Data Access Procedure: |
Data is available online for bulk and custom downloads. |
Data Access Constraints: |
None |
Data Use Constraints: |
Users should be aware that temporal changes may have occurred since this data set was collected and some parts of this data may no longer represent actual surface conditions. Users should not use this data for critical applications without a full awareness of its limitations. |
Distribution Information
Distribution 1
Start Date: | 2025-02-26 |
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End Date: | Present |
Download URL: | https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/#/lidar/search/where:ID=10279/details/10279 |
Distributor: | NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM) (2025 - Present) |
File Name: | Customized Download |
Description: |
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. |
Distribution Format: | Not Applicable |
Compression: | Zip |
Distribution 2
Start Date: | 2018 |
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End Date: | Present |
Download URL: | https://rockyweb.usgs.gov/vdelivery/Datasets/Staged/Elevation/LPC/Projects/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast_2016_LAS_2018/laz/ |
Distributor: | U.S. Geological Survey (2018 - Present) |
File Name: | Bulk Download - VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast |
Description: |
Bulk download of data files in LAZ format, UTM 17N NAD83(2011) meters coordinates and elevations in NAVD88 (Geoid12B) meters. |
Distribution Format: | LAS/LAZ - LASer |
Compression: | LAZ |
Distribution 3
Start Date: | 2018 |
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End Date: | Present |
Download URL: | https://rockyweb.usgs.gov/vdelivery/Datasets/Staged/Elevation/LPC/Projects/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A_2016_LAS_2018/laz/ |
Distributor: | U.S. Geological Survey (2018 - Present) |
File Name: | Bulk Download - VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A |
Description: |
Bulk download of data files in LAZ format, UTM 17N NAD83(2011) meters coordinates and elevations in NAVD88 (Geoid12B) meters. |
Distribution Format: | LAS/LAZ - LASer |
Compression: | LAZ |
Distribution 4
Start Date: | 2018 |
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End Date: | Present |
Download URL: | https://rockyweb.usgs.gov/vdelivery/Datasets/Staged/Elevation/LPC/Projects/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B_2016_LAS_2018/laz/ |
Distributor: | U.S. Geological Survey (2018 - Present) |
File Name: | Bulk Download - VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B |
Description: |
Bulk download of data files in LAZ format, UTM 17N NAD83(2011) meters coordinates and elevations in NAVD88 (Geoid12B) meters. |
Distribution Format: | LAS/LAZ - LASer |
Compression: | LAZ |
URLs
URL 1
URL: | https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/ |
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Name: | NOAA's Office for Coastal Management (OCM) Data Access Viewer (DAV) |
URL Type: |
Online Resource
|
File Resource Format: | HTML |
Description: |
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. |
URL 2
URL: | https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/Elevation/metadata/VA__FEMA_R3_SW_Lidar_2016_D16/VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A_2016/reports/Virginia_Southwest_Lidar_Project_Report.pdf |
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Name: | Lidar Report |
URL Type: |
Online Resource
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File Resource Format: | |
Description: |
Link to the lidar report |
URL 3
URL: | https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json |
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Name: | USGS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) - VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast |
URL Type: |
Online Resource
|
File Resource Format: | json |
Description: |
Entwine Point Tile (EPT) is a simple and flexible octree-based storage format for point cloud data. The data is organized in such a way that the data can be reasonably streamed over the internet, pulling only the points you need. EPT files can be queried to return a subset of the points that give you a representation of the area. As you zoom further in, you are requesting higher and higher densities. A dataset in EPT will contain a lot of files, however, the ept.json file describes all the rest. The EPT file can be used in Potree and QGIS to view the point cloud. |
URL 4
URL: | https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json |
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Name: | USGS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) - VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A |
URL Type: |
Online Resource
|
File Resource Format: | json |
Description: |
Entwine Point Tile (EPT) is a simple and flexible octree-based storage format for point cloud data. The data is organized in such a way that the data can be reasonably streamed over the internet, pulling only the points you need. EPT files can be queried to return a subset of the points that give you a representation of the area. As you zoom further in, you are requesting higher and higher densities. A dataset in EPT will contain a lot of files, however, the ept.json file describes all the rest. The EPT file can be used in Potree and QGIS to view the point cloud. |
URL 5
URL: | https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json |
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Name: | USGS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) - VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B |
URL Type: |
Online Resource
|
File Resource Format: | json |
Description: |
Entwine Point Tile (EPT) is a simple and flexible octree-based storage format for point cloud data. The data is organized in such a way that the data can be reasonably streamed over the internet, pulling only the points you need. EPT files can be queried to return a subset of the points that give you a representation of the area. As you zoom further in, you are requesting higher and higher densities. A dataset in EPT will contain a lot of files, however, the ept.json file describes all the rest. The EPT file can be used in Potree and QGIS to view the point cloud. |
URL 6
URL: | https://usgs.entwine.io/data/view.html?r=[%22https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json%22,%22https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json%22,%22https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json%22] |
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Name: | 3D View (Potree USGS) |
URL Type: |
Online Resource
|
Description: |
Link to view the point cloud, using the Entwine Point Tile (EPT) format, in the 3D Potree viewer. |
URL 7
URL: | https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/Elevation/metadata/VA__FEMA_R3_SW_Lidar_2016_D16/VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A_2016/reports/Appendix%20D%20-%20Final_Vertical_Accuracy_Report_SVA_FEMA_R3_SW_Lidar_2016_D16.pdf |
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Name: | Vertical Accuracy Report |
URL Type: |
Online Resource
|
File Resource Format: | |
Description: |
Link to the vertical accuracy report. |
URL 8
URL: | https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html?prefix=StagedProducts/Elevation/metadata/VA__FEMA_R3_SW_Lidar_2016_D16/ |
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Name: | USGS Additional Info |
URL Type: |
Online Resource
|
File Resource Format: | |
Description: |
Link to the reports, breaklines, metadata, and spatial metadata. |
Technical Environment
Description: |
Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise Service Pack 1; ESRI ArcCatalog 10.3 |
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Data Quality
Horizontal Positional Accuracy: |
Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest _A and VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B) Lidar vendors calibrate their lidar systems during installation of the system and then again for every project acquired. Typical calibrations include cross flights that capture features from multiple directions that allow adjustments to be performed so that the captured features are consistent between all swaths and cross flights from all directions. Thirty eight (38) checkpoints were used for horizontal accuracy testing. This dataset was tested to meet ASPRS Positional Accuracy Standards for Digital Geospatial Data (2014) for a 41 cm RMSEx/RMSEy Horizontal Accuracy Class which equates to Positional Horizontal Accuracy = +/- 1 meter at a 95% confidence level. Actual positional accuracy of this dataset was found to be RMSEx = 23.7 cm and RMSEy = 20.8 cm which equates to +/- 54.6 cm at 95% confidence level or 31.6 cm RMSEr. West Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast) Lidar vendors calibrate their lidar systems during installation of the system and then again for every project acquired. Typical calibrations include cross flights that capture features from multiple directions that allow adjustments to be performed so that the captured features are consistent between all swaths and cross flights from all directions. Twenty Five (25) checkpoints were used for horizontal accuracy testing. This dataset was tested to meet ASPRS Positional Accuracy Standards for Digital Geospatial Data (2014) for a 41 cm RMSEx/RMSEy Horizontal Accuracy Class which equates to Positional Horizontal Accuracy = +/- 1 meter at a 95% confidence level. Actual positional accuracy of this dataset was found to be RMSEx = 34.1 cm and RMSEy = 15.1 cm which equates to +/- 64.5 cm at 95% confidence level or 37.2 cm RMSEr. |
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Vertical Positional Accuracy: |
Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest _A and VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B) The vertical accuracy of the lidar was tested by Dewberry with 199 independent survey checkpoints. The survey checkpoints are evenly distributed throughout the project area and are located in areas of non-vegetated terrain, including bare earth, open terrain, and urban terrain (116), and vegetated terrain, including forest, brush, tall weeds, crops, and high grass (83). The vertical accuracy is tested by comparing survey checkpoints to a triangulated irregular network (TIN) that is created from the lidar ground points. Checkpoints are always compared to interpolated surfaces created from the lidar point cloud because it is unlikely that a survey checkpoint will be located at the location of a discrete lidar point. All checkpoints located in non-vegetated terrain were used to compute the Non-vegetated Vertical Accuracy (NVA). Project specifications required a NVA of 19.6 cm at the 95% confidence level based on RMSEz (10 cm) x 1.9600. All checkpoints located in vegetated terrain were used to compute the Vegetated Vertical Accuracy (VVA). Project specifications required a VVA of 29.4 cm based on the 95th percentile. The lidar dataset was tested to meet ASPRS Positional Accuracy Standards for Digital Geospatial Data (2014) for a 10 cm RMSEz Vertical Accuracy Class. Actual NVA accuracy was found to be RMSEz = 6.2 cm, equating to +/- 12.2 cm at 95% confidence level. Actual VVA accuracy was found to be +/- 20.8 cm at the 95th percentile. The 5% outliers consisted of 4 checkpoints that are larger than the 95th percentile. These checkpoints have DZ values ranging between -36.3 cm and 43.0 cm. West Virginia (VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast) The vertical accuracy of the lidar was tested by Dewberry with 109 independent survey checkpoints. The survey checkpoints are evenly distributed throughout the project area and are located in areas of non-vegetated terrain, including bare earth, open terrain, and urban terrain (64), and vegetated terrain, including forest, brush, tall weeds, crops, and high grass (45). The vertical accuracy is tested by comparing survey checkpoints to a triangulated irregular network (TIN) that is created from the lidar ground points. Checkpoints are always compared to interpolated surfaces created from the lidar point cloud because it is unlikely that a survey checkpoint will be located at the location of a discrete lidar point. All checkpoints located in non-vegetated terrain were used to compute the Non-vegetated Vertical Accuracy (NVA). Project specifications required a NVA of 19.6 cm at the 95% confidence level based on RMSEz (10 cm) x 1.9600. All checkpoints located in vegetated terrain were used to compute the Vegetated Vertical Accuracy (VVA). Project specifications required a VVA of 29.4 cm based on the 95th percentile. The lidar dataset was tested to meet ASPRS Positional Accuracy Standards for Digital Geospatial Data (2014) for a 10 cm RMSEz Vertical Accuracy Class. Actual NVA accuracy was found to be RMSEz = 6.2 cm, equating to +/- 12.2 cm at 95% confidence level. Actual VVA accuracy was found to be +/- 13.3 cm at the 95th percentile. The 5% outliers consisted of 2 checkpoints that are larger than the 95th percentile. These checkpoints have DZ values ranging between 16.2 cm and 20.1 cm. |
Completeness Report: |
A visual qualitative assessment was performed to ensure data completeness and bare earth data cleanliness. No void or missing data and data passes vertical accuracy specifications. |
Conceptual Consistency: |
Data covers the project boundary. |
Data Management
Have Resources for Management of these Data Been Identified?: | Yes |
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Approximate Percentage of Budget for these Data Devoted to Data Management: | Unknown |
Do these Data Comply with the Data Access Directive?: | Yes |
Actual or Planned Long-Term Data Archive Location: | NCEI-NC |
How Will the Data Be Protected from Accidental or Malicious Modification or Deletion Prior to Receipt by the Archive?: |
Data is backed up to cloud storage. |
Lineage
Lineage Statement: |
The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) ingested references to the USGS Entwine Point Tiles (EPT) hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) into the Digital Coast Data Access Viewer (DAV). The DAV accesses the point cloud as it resides on AWS under the usgs-lidar-public-container. |
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Sources
USGS AWS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) - VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast
Contact Role Type: | Publisher |
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Contact Type: | Organization |
Contact Name: | USGS |
Citation URL: | https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json |
Citation URL Name: | USGS AWS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) for VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast |
USGS AWS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) - VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A
Contact Role Type: | Publisher |
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Contact Type: | Organization |
Contact Name: | USGS |
Citation URL: | https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json |
Citation URL Name: | USGS AWS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) for VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A |
USGS AWS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) - VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B
Contact Role Type: | Publisher |
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Contact Type: | Organization |
Contact Name: | USGS |
Citation URL: | https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json |
Citation URL Name: | USGS AWS Entwine Point Tile (EPT) for VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B |
Process Steps
Process Step 1
Description: |
Data for the Virginia portion of the VA FEMA Lidar project was acquired by Leading Edge Geomatics (LEG). The project area included approximately 6069.91 contiguous square miles or 15720.99 square kilometers for a portion of Virginia. Leading Edge Geomatics, LLC operated a Piper Navajo C-GKCN outfitted with a Riegl 780 dual channel laser scanner lidar system . The data was delivered in the UTM coordinate system, meters, zone 17, horizontal datum NAD83 (2011), vertical datum NAVD88, Geoid 12B. Deliverables for the project included a raw (unclassified) calibrated lidar point cloud, survey control, and a final acquisition/calibration report. The calibration process considered all errors inherent with the equipment including errors in GPS, IMU, and sensor specific parameters. Adjustments were made to achieve a flight line to flight line data match (relative calibration) and subsequently adjusted to control for absolute accuracy. Process steps to achieve this are as follows: Rigorous lidar calibration: all sources of error such as the sensor's ranging and torsion parameters, atmospheric variables, GPS conditions, and IMU offsets were analyzed and removed to the highest level possible. This method addresses all errors, both vertical and horizontal in nature. Ranging, atmospheric variables, and GPS conditions affect the vertical position of the surface, whereas IMU offsets and torsion parameters affect the data horizontally. The horizontal accuracy is proven through repeatability: when the position of features remains constant no matter what direction the plane was flying and no matter where the feature is positioned within the swath, relative horizontal accuracy is achieved. Absolute horizontal accuracy is achieved through the use of differential GPS with base lines shorter than 25 miles. The base station is set at a temporary monument that is 'tied-in' to the CORS network. The same position is used for every lift, ensuring that any errors in its position will affect all data equally and can therefore be removed equally. Vertical accuracy is achieved through the adjustment to ground control survey points within the finished product. Although the base station has absolute vertical accuracy, adjustments to sensor parameters introduces vertical error that must be normalized in the final (mean) adjustment. The withheld and overlap bits are set and all headers, appropriate point data records, and variable length records, including spatial reference information, are updated in GeoCue software and then verified using proprietary Dewberry tools. |
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Process Date/Time: | 2016-12-01 00:00:00 |
Process Step 2
Description: |
Data for the West Virginia portion of the VA FEMA Lidar project was acquired by Axis Geospatial, LLC (Axis). The project area included approximately 2,640 contiguous square miles or 6,837 square kilometers for a portion of West Virginia. Axis Geospatial, LLC operated a Cessna 206H single engine aircraft (N223TC) outfitted with a Riegl LMS-Q1560 dual channel laser scanner lidar system . The data was delivered in the UTM coordinate system, meters, zone 17, horizontal datum NAD83 (2011), vertical datum NAVD88, Geoid 12B. Deliverables for the project included a raw (unclassified) calibrated lidar point cloud, survey control, and a final acquisition/calibration report. The calibration process considered all errors inherent with the equipment including errors in GPS, IMU, and sensor specific parameters. Adjustments were made to achieve a flight line to flight line data match (relative calibration) and subsequently adjusted to control for absolute accuracy. Process steps to achieve this are as follows: Rigorous lidar calibration: all sources of error such as the sensor's ranging and torsion parameters, atmospheric variables, GPS conditions, and IMU offsets were analyzed and removed to the highest level possible. This method addresses all errors, both vertical and horizontal in nature. Ranging, atmospheric variables, and GPS conditions affect the vertical position of the surface, whereas IMU offsets and torsion parameters affect the data horizontally. The horizontal accuracy is proven through repeatability: when the position of features remains constant no matter what direction the plane was flying and no matter where the feature is positioned within the swath, relative horizontal accuracy is achieved. Absolute horizontal accuracy is achieved through the use of differential GPS with base lines shorter than 25 miles. The base station is set at a temporary monument that is 'tied-in' to the CORS network. The same position is used for every lift, ensuring that any errors in its position will affect all data equally and can therefore be removed equally. Vertical accuracy is achieved through the adjustment to ground control survey points within the finished product. Although the base station has absolute vertical accuracy, adjustments to sensor parameters introduces vertical error that must be normalized in the final (mean) adjustment. The withheld and overlap bits are set and all headers, appropriate point data records, and variable length records, including spatial reference information, are updated in GeoCue software and then verified using proprietary Dewberry tools. |
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Process Date/Time: | 2017-04-01 00:00:00 |
Process Step 3
Description: |
Dewberry utilizes a variety of software suites for inventory management, classification, and data processing. All lidar related processes begin by importing the data into the GeoCue task management software. The swath data is tiled according to project specifications (1,500 m x 1,500 m). The tiled data is then opened in Terrascan where Dewberry classifies edge of flight line points that may be geometrically unusable with the withheld bit. These points are separated from the main point cloud so that they are not used in the ground algorithms. Overage points are then identified with the overlap bit. Dewberry then uses proprietary ground classification routines to remove any non-ground points and generate an accurate ground surface. The ground routine consists of three main parameters (building size, iteration angle, and iteration distance); by adjusting these parameters and running several iterations of this routine an initial ground surface is developed. The building size parameter sets a roaming window size. Each tile is loaded with neighboring points from adjacent tiles and the routine classifies the data section by section based on this roaming window size. The second most important parameter is the maximum terrain angle, which sets the highest allowed terrain angle within the model. As part of the ground routine, low noise points are classified to class 7 and high noise points are classified to class 18. Once the ground routine has been completed, bridge decks are classified to class 17 using bridge breaklines compiled by Dewberry. A manual quality control routine is then performed using hillshades, cross-sections, and profiles within the Terrasolid software suite. After this QC step, a peer review is performed on all tiles and a supervisor manual inspection is completed on a percentage of the classified tiles based on the project size and variability of the terrain. After the ground classification and bridge deck corrections are completed, the dataset is processed through a water classification routine that utilizes breaklines compiled by Dewberry to automatically classify hydrographic features. The water classification routine selects ground points within the breakline polygons and automatically classifies them as class 9, water. During this water classification routine, points that are within 1x NPS or less of the hydrographic features are moved to class 10, an ignored ground due to breakline proximity. A final QC is performed on the data. All headers, appropriate point data records, and variable length records, including spatial reference information, are updated in GeoCue software and then verified using proprietary Dewberry tools. The data was classified as follows: Class 1 = Unclassified. This class includes vegetation, buildings, noise etc. Class 2 = Ground Class 7= Low Noise Class 9 = Water Class 10 = Ignored Ground due to breakline proximity Class 17 = Bridge Decks Class 18 = High Noise The LAS header information was verified to contain the following: Class (Integer) Adjusted GPS Time (0.0001 seconds) Easting (0.003 m) Northing (0.003 m) Elevation (0.003 m) Echo Number (Integer) Echo (Integer) Intensity (16 bit integer) Flight Line (Integer) Scan Angle (degree) |
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Process Date/Time: | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 |
Process Step 4
Description: |
Original point clouds in LAS/LAZ format were restructured as Entwine Point Tiles and stored on Amazon Web Services. The data were re-projected horizontally to WGS84 web mercator (EPSG 3857) and the vertical units of NAVD88 (Geoid12B) meters were retained. |
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Process Contact: | U.S. Geological Survey |
Process Step 5
Description: |
The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) created references to the Entwine Point Tiles (EPT) that were ingested into the NOAA Digital Coast Data Access Viewer (DAV). No changes were made to the data. The DAV will access the point cloud as it resides on Amazon Web Services (AWS) under the usgs-lidar-public container. These are the AWS URLs being accessed: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Northeast_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_A_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usgs-lidar-public/USGS_LPC_VA_FEMA_R3_Southwest_B_2016_LAS_2018/ept.json |
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Process Date/Time: | 2025-02-26 00:00:00 |
Process Contact: | Office for Coastal Management (OCM) |
Related Items
Item Type | Relationship Type | Title |
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Data Set (DS) | Cross Reference |
2016 - 2017 FEMA Lidar DEM: Southwest Virginia & Northeast West Virginia |
Catalog Details
Catalog Item ID: | 74963 |
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GUID: | gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:74963 |
Metadata Record Created By: | Rebecca Mataosky |
Metadata Record Created: | 2025-02-26 18:39+0000 |
Metadata Record Last Modified By: | Rebecca Mataosky |
Metadata Record Last Modified: | 2025-03-03 15:10+0000 |
Metadata Record Published: | 2025-02-26 |
Owner Org: | OCMP |
Metadata Publication Status: | Published Externally |
Do Not Publish?: | N |
Metadata Last Review Date: | 2025-02-26 |
Metadata Review Frequency: | 1 Year |
Metadata Next Review Date: | 2026-02-26 |