LiDAR for Scotland Phase 1: Digital Surface Model for 11,845 km²

11,845 km² of airborne LiDAR data collected across 10 sites in Scotland between March 2011 and May 2012. The Scottish Government, SEPA, and Scottish Water commissioned this dataset for flood risk management, and it has been used for archaeology and orienteering. This specific dataset is the Digital Surface Model (DSM) derived from the point cloud data.

Use Cases

• Flood risk modeling and management based on the high-resolution terrain data.
• Archaeological site detection based on subtle landscape features revealed by the DSM.
• Orienteering and outdoor activity planning based on detailed surface models.
• Environmental change analysis based on the 2011-2012 baseline surface data.

Strengths

• Covers a significant area of 11,845 km² across 10 distinct sites.
• Commissioned by authoritative public bodies (Scottish Government, SEPA, Scottish Water) for a statutory purpose.
• Data collection period is clearly defined as March 2011 to May 2012.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Row count, file formats, and column-level documentation are unknown.
• The dataset does not have full national coverage of Scotland.

Provenance

Source

Scottish Government, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), and Scottish Water.

Collection Method

Airborne LiDAR data collection.

Time Range

March 2011 to May 2012.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

10 sites across Scotland, totalling 11,845 km².