National LIDAR Programme
The Environment Agency National LIDAR Programme provides accurate elevation data at 1m spatial resolution for all of England. In 2017 we divided the country into 302 survey blocks covering all of England which were subsequently captured during the winter months (approximately November to April each year) between January 2017 and February 2023. These are known as our 'Phase 1' national lidar programme surveys. Subsequently we have undertaken repeat surveys of specific blocks based on the on-going requirements for upto date elevation data. Each repeat survey block is given a new incrementing phase number, for example the second time we capture a block this is that blocks 'phase 2' whilst the 3rd time will be 'phase 3'. There is not curretly a plan to capture all the origianl phase 1 survey blocks over a rolling programme with repeat surveys be based on the requirements for upto date elevation data for an area. All data is published through the DEFRA Data Services survey portal on a quartely on-going bases and a number of different products area available for each survey block. All products are available in 5km tiles aligned to the ordnance survey grid. The tiles are named by the unique survey id, OS grid reference and the first and last survey date of the survey id (P_XXXXX_OSOSOS_SDFLOWN_EDFLOWN.*). The surface models are available in GeoTiff raster format whilst the point cloud is available in *.laz. An index catalogue is also available with provides survey specific information about each tile. Outlined below is a description of each product that is available for each survey block: LIDAR Point Cloud: is the discrete LIDAR returns that are used in the creation of the surface models. Supplied in *.laz format they the discrete LIDAR returns have been classified into ground, low, medium and high vegetation classes using an automated classification process. Digital Surface Model(s) (DSM) are created from the last or only LIDAR pulse returned to the sensor and contains all ground and surface objects. Digital Terrain Model(s) (DTM) is created from the last return LIDAR pulse classified as ground, filtering out surface objects. Manual filtering is undertaken on the DTM to improve the automated classification routines to produce a most likely ground surface model. Areas of no data, such as water bodies, are also filled to ensure there are no gaps in the model. First Return Digital Surface Model(s) (FZ DSM) is created from the either the first or only LIDAR pulse returned to the sensor and contains all ground and surface objects. It is more likely to return elevations from the top or near top of trees and the edges of buildings. It can often be used in canopy height modelling and production of building outlines. Intensity Surface Model(s) (Int DSM) is a measure of the amount of laser light from each laser pulse reflecting from an object. This reflectivity is a function of the near infrared wavelength used and varies with the composition of the surface object reflecting the return and angle of incidence.The intensity surface model produces a grayscale image where darker surfaces such as roads reflect less light than other surfaces such as vegetation. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2022. All rights reserved.
dataset
https://environment.data.gov.uk/DefraDataDownload/?Mode=survey
protocol: http
name: Survey Data - Download
description: Download the survey data
https://environment.data.gov.uk/explore/9f0fa3fc-a860-4729-adc9-47fe53f658d0
protocol: http
name: Metadata Shapefile Index Catalogues - Download
description: Download the coverage metadata files
protocol: http
name: Metadata Index Catalogues - WMS
description: Coverage metadata files - Web Map Service
protocol: http
name: Metadata Index Catalogues - WFS
description: Coverage metadata files - Web Feature Service
https://environment.data.gov.uk/support/faqs/275879146
protocol: http
name: Survey Data FAQs
description: Survey Data FAQs
2e8d0733-4f43-48b4-9e51-631c25d1b0a9
eng
http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/27700
environment
elevation
LIDAR
environment
elevation
Elevation
publication
2008-06-01
survey
publication
2010-01-13
remote sensing
publication
2010-01-13
-6.236
2.072
55.816
49.943
2016-11-11
2023-05-05
creation
2019-03-25
revision
2023-12-15
quarterly
Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) is an airborne mapping technique, which uses a laser to measure the height of the terrain and surface objects on the ground such as trees and buildings. Hundreds of thousands of measurements per second are made of the ground allowing highly detailed terrain models to be generated at spatial resolutions of between 25cm and 2 metres. The vertical accuracy of the LIDAR dataset is +/-15cm RMSE.
Open format | Geo Tagged Image File Format (GeoTIFF)
Not Applicable
Open Government Licence
There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.
There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.
Environment Agency
DSPcustomerforum@environment-agency.gov.uk
https://environment.data.gov.uk/support
description: Defra Data Services Forum
pointOfContact
Environment Agency
DSPcustomerforum@environment-agency.gov.uk
pointOfContact
2025-02-11