Historic Environment Division Lidar 2013: Northern Ireland Archaeological Landscapes

130 square kilometers of Northern Ireland were surveyed using airborne LIDAR in 2013 to assist with the interpretation and protection of archaeological landscapes. The Historic Environment Division acquired this data over a six-year period from 2008 to 2014 across 39 sites. Surveys are supplied as digital surface models (DSM) or digital terrain models (DTM) with vegetation and buildings removed.

Use Cases

• Detecting subtle archaeological features based on high-resolution topographic models mentioned in the description.
• Creating 3D landscape models for heritage site management based on the dense point cloud data.
• Analyzing terrain changes over time by comparing LIDAR surveys from different years within the 2008-2014 period.

Strengths

• Covers approximately 130 square kilometers, providing substantial area for analysis.
• Laser pulses allow measurements with a vertical accuracy of 0.5cm, enabling detection of subtle features.
• Data is provided under an Open Government Licence, facilitating open use.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Historic Environment Division (HED), via OpenDataNI.

Collection Method

Airborne LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveys from aircraft.

Time Range

2013 (part of a broader 2008-2014 acquisition period).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:08.950669; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Ireland, across 39 specific sites.