Buffalo County LiDAR

LiDAR products application

LiDAR products applcation

Click here or the image above to download LiDAR Data

Available LiDAR Products:

  • Classified Point Cloud, LAS 1.4 format
    • The calibrated LiDAR point cloud is classified to the following base classification scheme:
  •  Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
    • Generated from classified bare earth points (Class 2) and breaklines.
  • Topographic improved 2-foot contours
    • Generated at 2-foot contour intervals from the bare earth surface and breaklines. Formatted in ESRI shapefile tiles. 

About Buffalo County 2017 LiDAR

In the spring of  2016 Survey Crews with Ayres Associates were in Buffalo County  collecting ground truth control points in preparation for aerial LiDAR  collection.  The control points are used by the aerial mapping group at  Ayres Associates to post process the data and to verify the vertical  accuracy of the various types of ground cover that Buffalo County has.

The county was divided into 22 different areas for this survey to ensure   that the data collected was spread evenly throughout the county.  Each   area has roughly 4-5 ground types and one horizontal.  Horizontal   accuracy points are also established in order to ensure that the data  is  horizontally accurate.

Using GPS and total station instruments the survey crews captured   roughly 3-5 sites per day, depending on different variables (cell phone   coverage, GPS monuments, weather, etc.). Once completed with the field   portion of the ground truthing survey, the aerial mapping group with   Ayres Associates flew the LiDAR capture mission over Buffalo County on   March 22nd 2016.

Collecting LiDAR

LiDAR_Pilot

Inside the aircraft

Scanner

LiDAR Process:

  • Determine Area of Interest and create flight boundary
  • Design flight plan based on required point density and predominant terrain within AOI
  • Design base station layout (WISCORS) to determine which stations will control flight
  • Collect calibration ground control points
  • Collect independent QC ground control points under different land cover types
  • Execute flight during snow free and leaf off ground conditions
  • Calibrate raw point cloud using calibration control
  • Collect hydro breaklines for lakes and rivers
  • Manual edit of bare earth points
  • Process bare earth DEM
  • Generate 2-ft contours
  • QC point cloud against independent control and verify accuracy specs
  • QC derivative products to verify they meet specs
  • Deliver LIDAR products for integration into GIS

Flight Engineer with LiDAR Scanner

Plane_Cabin