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Where to download LiDAR online?
There are a few different places you can download LiDAR data online. Equator compiles data
The US Geological Survey website is a good place to start, as they have a large collection of high-quality LiDAR data. You can also try searching for specific datasets on Google Earth Engine or Earthdata, which both offer free access to a variety of satellite and airborne data. Finally, if you’re looking for commercial LiDAR data, you can purchase it from companies like Geodata International or Terraula. All of these websites offer download links for a variety of different LiDAR datasets, so you should be able to find what you’re looking for relatively easily. Whichever website you choose, make sure to download the data in the format that is compatible with your software before beginning your analysis.
LiDAR vs. DEM. vs. Contours – what do you need?
There is a lot of confusion around the names of various elevation products, and what they truly mean. Sometimes, a rater Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is incorrectly called LiDAR. In fact, rater DEMs (typically in geoTIFF format) can be created from LiDAR but not always, so using the terms interchangeably is not advised.
Equator allows users to create various elevation products from LiDAR. These products include DEMs, DSMs, contours, and hillshades. To learn more about the difference between each product, and which is right for your project, you can learn more about LiDAR vs. DEM vs. Contous in a recent blog post.
