Environment Agency’s open LIDAR data will aid infrastructure projects

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The Environment Agency has released 725 gigabytes of geographical LIDAR data that engineers and planners will be able to use to improve infrastructure and city models.

LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveys use lasers on aircraft to create detailed maps of the landscape, with hundreds of millions of data points bounced back from the Earth to form stunning images. The technique is used by the Environment Agency to help flood modelling and monitor coastal erosion, and 175,000 square kilometres of land has been made available to the public. The ‘point cloud’ data has been collected over the course of the past 18 years, and covers over 75 per cent of England.

In January, start-up Emu Analytics used the open point cloud LIDAR data to develop an interactive map enabling people to see the heights of buildings across London. More recently, the company has expanded that map to include the top 25 urban areas in England.

“It is superb for start-ups like us that the Environment Agency is making its LIDAR point cloud available as open data,” said Jonathan Smith, head of Data Insight at Emu Analytics.

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