Easy To Browse Lidar Imagery Now On National Map (good For Prospecting And Relic Hunting)

[dsb]

That's the easiest site to use I've seen, THANKS!  Need to find out how to toggle between imagery and lidar, rtfm.  got it!

[schoolofhardNox]

3 hours ago, NAGANT said:

That's the easiest site to use I've seen, THANKS!  Need to find out how to toggle between imagery and lidar, rtfm.  got it!

Yeah, I couldn't figure out how to go between maps except to uncheck the hillshade option and be sure you are on zoom level 16 or less. Level 17 seems to make the original map go blank but works on the lidar well.  It is a great source though. Thanks jasong for posting it.

[F350Platinum]

I'm finding that using 3DEP Elevation, hillshade stretched is better for me.

It's turning up foundations, I like the greyscale. 

[dsb]

Stretched works for me also.  The colored options seem less defined.  Overall i feel other sites I've used seem less blurry in full zoom but this is easier to get to.

[Sourdough Scott]

Thanks for sharing this site. I'm really enjoying doing research with this. 

[maxxkatt]

Thanks a lot for this post. Quite helpful in locating civil war works.

 

John

 

[Clay Diggins]

Most of the 3DEP scans are 30 meter resolution (100 foot per image pixel) or 3 Meter resolution (10 foot per image pixel). That's the same resolution as the older DEMS but LIDAR has the advantage in heavily forested areas due to a partial ground signal. In desert areas there is no difference between 3 meter LIDAR and 3 meter DEMS. That's why you can't zoom in closer without blurry and or fuzzy images. Some areas on the coasts and around environmental projects are higher resolution but the vast majority of the country has the same elevation resolution as they did 20 years ago..

The 3DEP program has been around since 2011 and has offered imagery to the public for free since 2016, that's 6 years, it's not new.  I've been making 3D models with 3DEP data for all of those 6 years. A lot of 3DEP is still based on the old DEMS - not all of it is LIDAR. The 3DEP program is an effort to present the best elevation models for any area no matter whether the source is LIDAR or traditional DEM.

From the USGS:
The 3DEP products and services available through The National Map consist of lidar point clouds and digital elevation models (DEMs) at various horizontal resolutions.

3D elevation modeling can be a big help to prospectors particularly when they are draped with other mapping like land ownership. Here's a 3D model I made in 2014. It shows a portion of Rich Hill claims and land status. The original is much larger and higher resolution.