Whole of England to be mapped with lasers

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/england-mapped-lasers-flooding-waste-dumps-a8134156.html

by dmmalam • 9 years ago

54 19 9 years ago

independent.co.uk

tda• 9 years ago

This has already been done for the Netherlands a few times, and is repeated every 5 or so years. See all the data in your browser here: http://ahn2.pointclouds.nl/

qualitytime• 9 years ago

Does not work in Firefox????

mr337• 9 years ago

Nope it doesn't not, requires Edge or Chrome. Feels like IE wars again.

dan1234• 9 years ago

It has already been done for England too[0] (although the abstract says 'over 70% of England' so some parts must be missing).

I think someone made a Minecraft map out of the current data, will be interesting to see what is made from the update.

[0]https://data.gov.uk/dataset/lidar-composite-dsm-1m1

timthorn• 9 years ago

The Ordnance Survey converted their mapping data to a Minecraft world: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/innovate/developers/minecra...

aglionby• 9 years ago

Not sure if this is the same map you're talking about, but Ordinance Survey made a map[0] using data they had in 2013, and then again in 2014. This was based on height data at 50m resolution.

It's hard to see how OS capture height exactly, I imagine via aircraft[1]. Not sure whether they are the source of the existing data the Environment agency has; I doubt it as their data has a max resolution of 5m while the government's is 1m.

[0] https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/innovate/developers/minecra...

[1] https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/international/knowledge/dat...

mrtksn• 9 years ago

So we are back to the IE6 days, I am supposed to open specific pages on specific browsers.

2017 is so retro, I wonder if I will be able not to use Chrome in 2018.

SllX• 9 years ago

I guess it'll be just like the good old days with Firefox 1.5.

JorgeGT• 9 years ago

Done in Spain as well, free to download (RGB-colored .laz), but no online 3D viewer: http://centrodedescargas.cnig.es/CentroDescargas/buscadorCat...

tezza• 9 years ago

A lot is already done. Download away.

UK Lidar: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/lidar-composite-dsm-1m1

There's even some Unity plugins that will merge this lidar with satellite photos and openstreetmap and get you a 3d environment from all this data.

gerdesj• 9 years ago

Does anyone know what the errors are and what accuracy the elevation data is?

All I can find is "spatial resolutions of between 25cm and 2 metres" and "Accurate elevation data ..."

79522• 9 years ago

Environment Agency LiDAR data has a vertical accuracy of 5-15cm +/- RMSE and a horizontal accuracy of 40cm +/- RMSE [1]

These kind of accuracy measures are usually relative to the national datum. They can be more accurate relative to other points in the same survey.

[1] http://www.getmapping.com/support/height-lidar-data/how-accu...

andybak• 9 years ago

Any idea how the quality compares with just using Open Street Map elevation data?

Mediterraneo10• 9 years ago

OpenStreetMap does not have much of its own elevation data. (There is a way to tag elevation, but it is rather seldom done). Any project that shows you OSM data and elevation is probably pulling in third-party elevation data such as that from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)[1].

[1] http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/

nxc18• 9 years ago

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Airbus sells a very nice Digital Elevation Model. It seems to be quite a lot better than the shuttle data everyone was using for a while.

http://www.intelligence-airbusds.com/worlddem/

rmc• 9 years ago

The elevation data in OSM is mostly just an elevation data on peaks and such, not actually DEM stuff

ryanmaynard• 9 years ago

Some of the states in the US are doing this as well. For example, Tennessee.[1]

[1] http://www.tngis.org/lidar.htm

peter303• 9 years ago

Topographic (geodetic) shape is always changing with time. Radar inferometry from satellites gives the most repeated surveys, but has low spatial resolution. You can discern made-made, seasonal, and geological factors causing change. The American Geophysical Union meeting each December has several hundred papers on dynamic geodesy.

Whole of England to be mapped with lasers

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