OpenTopography Blog

Information and discussion related to high-resolution LiDAR topography for the Earth sciences

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Category: Publications

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USGS Mount St. Helens LiDAR Poster

Posted on Tue, January 11, 2011 by Chris Crosby in Education • Publications

The USGS has released a beautiful poster of Mount St. Helens created from high-resolution LiDAR topography data.  The poster is USGS General Information Product 116 and is freely available for download in PDF format at either 17x22 inches or 32x42 inches.

Citation:
Queija, V.R., 2010, Mount St. Helens lidar: U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 116, 1 p.

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National Academy report on Precise Geodetic Infrastructure

Posted on Mon, November 22, 2010 by Chris Crosby in News • Publications

Earlier this month a National Research Council report entitled Precise Geodetic Infrastructure: National Requirements for a Shared Resource was published via the National Academies Press.  The report, authored by the National Research Council’s Committee on the National Requirements for Precision Geodetic Infrastructure and the Committee on Seismology and Geodynamics, is freely available in PDF format.

The emphasis of the report is on:

Recognizing the growing reliance of a wide range of scientific and societal endeavors on infrastructure for precise geodesy, and recognizing geodetic infrastructure as a shared national resource, this book provides an independent assessment of the benefits provided by geodetic observations and networks, as well as a plan for the future development and support of the infrastructure needed to meet the demand for increasingly greater precision. Precise Geodetic Infrastructure makes a series of focused recommendations for upgrading and improving specific elements of the infrastructure, for enhancing the role of the United States in international geodetic services, for evaluating the requirements for a geodetic workforce for the coming decades, and for providing national coordination and advocacy for the various agencies and organizations that contribute to the geodetic infrastructure.

Within the context of the types of LiDAR topography data emphasized by OpenTopography, the report highlights the importance of a strong geodetic infrastructure for topographic mapping, and specifically for providing the necessary control to produce high-accuracy (centimeter) LiDAR surveys.  Also highlighted in the report is the importance of precise geodetic infrastructure to allow LiDAR to be used in the future as a geodetic observing tool with millimeter accuracies (also requiring improvements in LiDAR ranging precision), for research and applications related to the coastal zone, wetlands, earthquake faults, landslides, flooding, ice sheet dynamics.  The report highlights LiDAR as a example of a rapidly progressing geodetic technology with significant societal impacts:

...many aspects of geodetic techniques, technologies, and data analysis are progressing rapidly today; such trends will likely persist in the foreseeable future. For example, societal applications of geodetic imaging, using active remote sensing tools such as radar and LiDAR with increasing spatial and temporal resolution and improving accuracy, will probably contribute powerfully to this progress.

Download the Precise Geodetic Infrastructure: National Requirements for a Shared Resource report from the National Academies Press.

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Report compares LiDAR to aerial and multi-spectral imagery for identifying and mapping active faults

Posted on Wed, September 15, 2010 by Chris Crosby in Publications • Research

Ante Perez at the California Geological Survey recently forwarded me a link to a Final Technical Report they’ve submitted on research conducted with funding from the USGS National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).  The report, entitled Utility of Combined Aerial Photography and Digital Imagery for Fault Trace Mapping in Diverse Terrain and Vegetation Regimes (project Co-PIs: Jerome A. Treiman, Florante G. Perez, and William A. Bryant, all CGS) compared various types of imagery for mapping and identifying active faults in southern California:

In this study we compared the effectiveness of shaded relief imagery derived from high-resolution LiDAR digital elevation models to standard aerial photography and to digital multi-spectral imagery for identifying and mapping active faults in moderate to sparsely vegetated terrain in southern California. The digital imagery included recently acquired digital stereo imagery. We also compared LiDAR-derived imagery to several combinations of draped or fused digital imagery. Additionally, we looked at the use of accurately georeferenced digital imagery for the accurate registration of interpreted data from older non-registered aerial photography. The study areas spanned varying terrain and geology.

The report is quite comprehensive and offers a nice comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of imagery.  There are also many nice figures that show comparisons of imagery for a single study site, as well as fusions of the the imagery layers.

Among the report’s conclusions is that in areas of relatively sparse vegetation, the LiDAR data is not as useful as imagery due in part to tonal variations that can not be scene in the grey scale LiDAR hillshades:

We found that no single type of imagery could serve as a stand-alone product for fault interpretation, as most image types added some value not found in other imagery. However, stereo imagery (photographic or digital) proved the most useful in the areas evaluated in this study. The lack of tonal distinctions in the LiDAR imagery was a detriment in areas where geomorphic expression was absent, although combination with spectral imagery compensated for this to some small degree.

The B4 LiDAR data used in this study were accessed and gridded using OpenTopography.

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Geoscience Applications of High-Resolution Digital Topography in Arizona

Posted on Sun, August 01, 2010 by Chris Crosby in News • Publications • Research • TLS

The latest edition of the Arizona Geological Survey’s online Arizona Geology magazine has a nice article on recent applications of airborne and terrestrial LiDAR to geoscience research in Arizona written by David Haddad, a graduate student in ASU’s Active Tectonics, Quantitative Structural Geology and Geomorphology research group.  For his MS research, David used LiDAR data from both airborne and terrestrial platforms to characterize the geomorphic settings of precariously balanced rocks in the Granite Dells near Prescott, AZ.  Precariously balanced rocks (PBRs) can be used as negative indicators of strong ground motion caused by earthquakes, and their spatial distribution provides an indication of the intensity of ground shaking in a given location.  For more on PBRs, see David’s other Arizona Geology article: Nature’s Balanced Seismometers.

David’s article provides a nice overview of LiDAR technology, a few nice graphics like the one above, and a good intro to how these data have been applied to his PBR research in Arizona.

Arizona Geology article: High-Resolution Digital Topography in Arizona

Via: Lee Allison’s Arizona Geology blog

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Geomorphology: Understanding earth surface processes from remotely sensed digital terrain models

Posted on Tue, January 19, 2010 by Chris Crosby in Publications • Resources

I’m a bit late on this, but the December 1, 2009, Geomorphology special volume: Understanding earth surface processes from remotely sensed digital terrain models, edited by Paolo Tarolli, J Ramon Arrowsmith and Enrique Vivoni is an excellent collection of papers related to the study of geomorphic processes with terrestrial laser scanning, airborne lidar, and satellite-based topographic remote sensing. 

Ramon kindly provides a link to the volume’s preface for those who are interested.

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