Scottish Public Sector LiDAR Data with Terrain and Surface Models

LiDAR data collected by the Scottish public sector is available as point clouds and derived terrain models. The dataset comprises multiple subsets commissioned for different organizational requirements, with details accessible via a provided remote sensing portal. Data is offered under the Open Government Licence v3, with a non-commercial exception for one specific phase.

Use Cases

• Generate high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) for hydrological analysis based on the available point cloud data.
• Create Digital Surface Models (DSMs) for urban planning and vegetation height mapping based on the derived GeoTIFF products.
• Conduct change detection analysis by comparing LiDAR point clouds from different commissioned survey subsets.
• Perform 3D modeling for coastal erosion or flood risk assessment using the elevation data.

Strengths

• Includes both raw point cloud data (LAS/LAZ) and derived, analysis-ready products (DTM/DSM GeoTIFFs).
• Data is provided in Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) format, which is optimized for cloud-based access and processing.
• Licensing is clearly stated, with the majority available under the permissive Open Government Licence v3.

Limitations

• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale projects.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics for point cloud attributes must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Collection Method

Collected via aerial LiDAR surveys commissioned by various Scottish public sector organizations.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Scotland