LIDAR Composite DTM 2017: 1m Resolution Digital Terrain Model for England

England's terrain model derived from LIDAR data, covering over 60% of the country at a 1-meter spatial resolution. The Environment Agency produced this Digital Terrain Model in 2017 by processing the last-return LIDAR signal to remove surface objects like buildings and vegetation. Data is available in 5km grid tiles with a vertical accuracy of +/-15cm RMSE.

Use Cases

• Flood risk modeling and hydrological analysis based on the detailed terrain model.
• Infrastructure and construction planning based on accurate ground elevation data.
• Environmental change detection and landscape analysis based on the annual composite updates.
• Creating shaded relief visualizations for cartography based on the available WMS feed.

Strengths

• Covers over 60% of England, providing broad spatial coverage.
• High 1-meter spatial resolution for detailed terrain representation.
• Specified vertical accuracy of +/-15cm RMSE.
• Composite is updated annually to incorporate the latest survey data.

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.
• The dataset is noted as no longer available on the original platform, requiring users to find a new version.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency, United Kingdom.

Collection Method

Airborne LIDAR surveys, processed with bespoke algorithms and manual editing to create a Digital Terrain Model.

Time Range

2017 composite, incorporating data from a time-stamped archive.

Freshness

Annual updates, but the core composite is from 2017.

Geography

England.