NOAA VA1901 Lidar: Topobathymetric Point Cloud for Chesapeake Bay, Virginia

4,821 LAS tiles covering approximately 964.624 square kilometers of the Chesapeake Bay near Gwynn to Newport News, Virginia. The data were collected by NV5 Geospatial, Inc. using a Riegl VQ-880-GH system in 15 missions between February 17 and April 12, 2019. It includes point classifications for ground, bathymetric bottom, water column, and other features, along with intensity, return number, time, and scan angle.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal erosion and sediment transport based on classified ground and bathymetric bottom points.
• Creating digital elevation models (DEMs) for coastal flood risk assessment based on topobathymetric point data.
• Analyzing submerged features and water column characteristics based on the provided ASPRS classification standards.
• Calibrating or validating hydrodynamic models using precise elevation data for both land and underwater terrain.

Strengths

• Covers approximately 964.624 square kilometers with high spatial detail.
• Includes 4,821 individually compiled 500m x 500m LAS tiles for manageable processing.
• Provides multiple point classifications (e.g., ground, bathymetric bottom, water column) following ASPRS standards.
• Contains additional lidar attributes like intensity, number of returns, time, and scan angle.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via airborne Riegl VQ-880-GH lidar system by NV5 Geospatial, Inc.

Time Range

2019-02 17 to 2019-04-12

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:02:44.536873; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Portion of the Chesapeake Bay and nearby census designated places in Virginia, from Gwynn to Newport News.