Central South Dakota Airborne Lidar Validation - Field Survey Data

Publication Date

2021-12-08

Start Date

2017-04-25

End Date

2018-07-26

Irwin, J.R., Danielson, J.J., Kim, M., Sampath, A., Stensaas, G.L., and Heidemann, H.K., 2021, Central South Dakota Airborne Lidar Validation - Field Survey Data: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9DB2OTD.

Airborne lidar can provide high-quality topographic information over large areas. Lidar is an active remote sensing technology that employs laser ranging in near-infrared spectral wavelengths to provide three-dimensional (3D) point information for objects, including Earth’s surface, vegetation, and infrastructure. The USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is a program managed by the National Geospatial Program that was developed to respond to the demand for high-quality topographic data and 3D information for natural features and infrastructure throughout the nation. 3DEP seeks to systematically acquire airborne topographic lidar for the conterminous U.S., Hawaii, and the U.S. territories to develop a nationwide baseline of consistent high-resolution topographic elevation data. A series of field accuracy assessment surveys, using conventional surveying methods (i.e. total station and GNSS) along with ground-based lidar (GBL) were conducted at test sites in or near Chamberlain, Corsica, Pierre, and Platte, South Dakota. The goal of the field surveys was to evaluate the 3D absolute and relative accuracy of airborne Geiger-Mode and Single Photon lidar acquired and to determine if the data meets 3DEP specifications. Airborne lidar data accuracy is most commonly expressed in terms of the vertical error (RMSEz) of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) produced from the lidar points that are classified as ground points, with little or no regard to the horizontal accuracy of the point cloud. High accuracy 3D point data are necessary to estimate the 3D accuracy of airborne lidar data. This requires validation data that is three times more accurate than the airborne lidar data such as point data collected from survey grade GNSS, total station, and GBL instruments. The survey data will be used to spatially assess the horizontal and vertical accuracy of the lidar produced by the Single Photon and Geiger-Mode systems along with analyzing plane to plane offsets between various infrastructure roof features. This research will help 3DEP determine if these sensors have the potential to meet current and future 3DEP topographic lidar collection requirements. For more information on 3DEP collection requirements, please see the latest version of the USGS Lidar Base Specification (https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/ss/lidar-base-specification-online).

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