NI 3D Coastal Survey: 2021 Airborne LiDAR Point Cloud

The 2021 NI 3D Coastal Survey provides a complete airborne LiDAR point cloud of the Northern Ireland coastline. The data captures the intertidal area and extends approximately 200 meters landward of the high-water mark, offering a precise record of coastal morphology. This dataset is available on multiple open data platforms under a UK Open Government License.

Use Cases

• Coastal erosion modeling based on precise elevation data of the intertidal zone.
• Flood risk assessment based on the 200-meter landward topographic profile.
• Habitat and land cover classification based on 3D point cloud features.
• Baseline creation for coastal management planning based on the 2021 survey snapshot.
• Validation of satellite-derived elevation models based on high-accuracy LiDAR measurements.

Strengths

• Provides a complete survey of the entire Northern Ireland coastline from a single year (2021).
• Captures data in the dynamic intertidal zone, which is often difficult to map.
• Released under a permissive OGL-UK-3.0 license, facilitating reuse.
• Available on multiple government open data platforms, indicating institutional importance.

Limitations

• Column names and specific point attributes are not described in the provided metadata.
• The exact point density, accuracy metrics, and file size are unknown.
• One source lists a last update date of 2026-04-15, which may reflect metadata refresh rather than new data, creating potential confusion.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service (likely via the NI 3D Coastal Survey project).

Collection Method

Airborne LiDAR survey.

Time Range

2021

Freshness

2026-04-15 14:21:22.579962 (metadata update)

Geography

Northern Ireland coastline, including intertidal area and ~200 meters landward.