LIDAR Composite DTM 2019: England Terrain Model at 10m Resolution

Over 85% of England is covered by this 10-meter resolution Digital Terrain Model derived from Environment Agency LIDAR surveys. The composite raster merges data from the Time Stamped archive and National LIDAR Programme, using the newest, best resolution surveys available between March 1998 and September 2019. This retired dataset, produced by the Environment Agency, presents elevation in meters referenced to the Ordnance Survey Newlyn datum.

Use Cases

• Modeling flood risk and water flow based on the detailed terrain surface.
• Conducting landscape change analysis based on the multi-year survey composite.
• Creating base elevation layers for 3D visualizations and mapping projects based on the 10m raster data.
• Supporting infrastructure planning and environmental assessments based on the high-coverage DTM.

Strengths

• Covers over 85% of England, providing extensive spatial coverage.
• Integrates the best available LIDAR data from surveys spanning over two decades (1998-2019).
• Uses bilinear interpolation for resampling, which likely preserves terrain smoothness.

Limitations

• This version has been retired, indicating it is not the current authoritative source.
• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; data structure must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is a resampled product (from 2m to 10m), which may reduce detail compared to the original source.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency, United Kingdom.

Collection Method

Derived from airborne LIDAR surveys, with surface objects removed via algorithms and manual editing to create a bare-earth terrain model.

Time Range

Surveys undertaken between 12 March 1998 and 1 September 2019.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; the dataset is marked as retired.

Geography

England.