USGS 3DEP LiDAR Point Clouds

The USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) aims to collect comprehensive elevation data across the United States and its territories using LiDAR technology. This extensive dataset, hosted on AWS Open Data, provides access to these valuable point clouds, facilitating a wide range of geospatial analyses and applications. The data is made available through two primary methods, catering to different user needs and access requirements.

The first resource offers public access via Entwine Point Tiles (EPT) format, which is a lossless, full-density, streamable octree based on LASzip (LAZ) encoding. For more complete coverage, including sources with incomplete or missing Coordinate Reference Systems that might not have EPT tiles, a second resource provides Requester Pays access to the original, Raw LAZ 1.4 3DEP format. Resource names in both buckets correspond to the USGS project names, ensuring consistency and ease of identification. The dataset is periodically updated and is available under a US Government Public Domain license, promoting broad usability.

Comprehensive documentation for this dataset is available on GitHub, providing users with detailed information and guidance. The data is managed by Hobu, Inc., a recognized entity in the geospatial data processing community. Various usage examples are provided, including tutorials on extracting features using Amazon SageMaker and visualizing data with Potree and Plasio.js. Additionally, several tools and applications leverage this data, such as Equator for in-browser viewing and processing, Facebook's Line of Sight Check, and Jupyter Notebooks from OpenTopography for programmatic access, demonstrating the versatility and utility of the USGS 3DEP LiDAR Point Clouds.