LiDAR-Derived Vegetation Canopy Map For Great Smoky Mountains

LiDAR point cloud data from 2005 and 2011 was used to create a 30-meter resolution map of vegetation canopy structure for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The dataset, produced by NASA, classifies vegetation types by grouping areas with similar three-dimensional canopy characteristics. The resulting map has been validated against existing vegetation maps for the park.

Use Cases

• Validating and updating existing vegetation maps for the park using LiDAR-derived canopy height and structure.
• Analyzing forest composition and structure by grouping areas with similar 3D canopy characteristics.
• Modeling habitat suitability for species dependent on specific vertical forest strata.
• Assessing changes in canopy structure over time by comparing 2005 and 2011 LiDAR collections.

Strengths

• Data is validated against existing vegetation maps for the park.
• Provides high-resolution three-dimensional point cloud measurements at 30-meter spatial resolution.
• Covers the entire Great Smoky Mountains National Park across two states.

Limitations

• Specific column names and the total row count are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, listing both 2011-04-30 and 2026-03-13.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without details.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Analysis of multiple-return LiDAR point cloud measurements.

Time Range

2005-04 to 2011-04

Freshness

2026-03-13 (from datagov, though this conflicts with the 2011 date from nasa_earthdata).

Geography

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee and North Carolina sections)