Topobathy Lidar DEM for Virginia Rivers, 2023-2024

Virginia's Roanoke, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, Appomattox, and James Rivers are covered by approximately 195 square miles of topobathy lidar data. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collected these data using a CZMIL Super Nova system from October 2023 through November 2024. The dataset consists of 272 digital elevation model tiles in LAS 1.4 format, classified for features like ground, water surface, and bathymetric bottom.

Use Cases

• Modeling riverine flood risk based on combined topographic and bathymetric elevation data.
• Analyzing shoreline erosion and sediment transport based on classified ground and water surface points.
• Mapping submerged objects and aquatic habitats based on bathymetric bottom and water column classifications.
• Creating 3D terrain models for infrastructure planning based on the 5,000m x 5,000m DEM tile structure.

Strengths

• Data covers approximately 195 square miles across five major Virginia river systems.
• Collection period spans over a year, from October 2023 to November 2024.
• Data is structured into 272 standardized 5,000m x 5,000m DEM tiles.
• LAS point cloud includes specific classifications for ground, water surface, bathymetric bottom, and submerged objects.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The description metadata is limited; actual data quality and completeness require manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected by Dewberry using a CZMIL Super Nova lidar system from an airplane.

Time Range

2023-10-18 to 2024-11 27

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 21:31:40.778336; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Shores of the Roanoke, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, Appomattox, and James Rivers in Virginia, USA.