Priorities for the grant are relatively specific with a focus on coastal portions of the country: ”Priorities for the program include collecting elevation data over those coastal areas of United States most susceptible to storm and hurricane flooding, earthquake damage, and coastal erosion”.  All data collected by organizations funded via this grant will ultimately be ingested into the USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) to expand the extent of available 1/9 arc second (roughly 3 meter) topography data.  The announcement also specifies that all raw LiDAR point cloud data will be added to the archive maintained by the USGS Center for LIDAR Information Coordination and Knowledge (CLICK).  The announcement includes the following map, which shows the regions of the country that are deemed highest priority for ARRA topography funds.  The map also shows the extent and status of 1/9 arc second topography in NED - most of which is data derived from state, local and federal LiDAR data collections - and may therefore be interesting for folks curious about where LiDAR data may be available in their region or area of research.  Regional, zoomed views, of the map below can be downloaded as a supplement to the grant announcement.

Although this grant is an exciting opportunity to acquire a significant amount of new LiDAR data, there has been significant debate about the quality of the data specified by the RFP.  The grant announcement specifies “high resolution (1 point per square meter (ppsm)) lidar”, which is significantly lower resolution than the 6-8+ shots per square meter data that is being delivered by projects such as the EarthScope (data hosted here on OpenTopography), and the Oregon and Puget Sound LiDAR Consortia.  Therefore, there is concern that these USGS-funded data will be of less utility to Earth science researchers, especially in areas of steep terrain and dense vegetation.

The new Orgeon LiDAR viewer can be accessed here:
http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/lidardataviewer/index.htm

The viewer allows users to see hillshade and slopeshade images and contours derived from lidar collected by DOGAMI with Oregon Lidar Consortium funding.  The viewer currently has data from three surveys, and more will be added as new data is finalized.  The intent of the viewer is to allow the general public to see the data without the need for GIS software, and to allow GIS users to preview the data that they may then obtain through our LDG publication series.

Here is a quick screen capture of the viewer:

The National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) invites graduate students who are interested in research grade airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM or lidar) data to make use of the center’s facilities through the Seed projects program. This year the program will support 10 seed projects covering an area no more than 40 sq. km. each. These projects are intended to provide data to graduate students early in their research program, so that availability of such data may seed further research and support, building upon discoveries made possible by ALSM technology.

The proposals can be submitted electronically by visiting the center’s website http://www.ncalm.org. The submission deadline is November 16, 2009.

As you can see, if the area is shown in yellow, those data were collected by GeoEarthScope and are currently available via OpenTopography.  Likewise, areas outlined in orange are also available via OpenTopography, but these data were collected by campaigns other than GeoEarthScope (e.g. the B4 and the ECSZ projects). Finally, areas shown in green are GeoEarthScope data that have not been delivered to OpenTopography for distribution to the community but that we expect to arrive in the next few months.  As always, you can use the data overview page in OpenTopography to see what data is available in the system.

One session is focused on terrestrial LiDAR (TLS):

G17: Ground Based Geodetic Techniques and Science Applications
Conveners:  Gerald W Bawden- US Geological Survey, Benjamin Brooks - University of Hawaii, David Phillips - UNAVCO

Ground-based geodesy is a rapidly expanding and evolving technology and because of their portability, relative ease of use, long acquisition ranges, and sub-cm spatial resolution, tools such as terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) and/or ground-based radars (GBR) promise to expand our detailed understanding of the fundamental processes that drive a broad range of spatial (3D) and temporal (4D) science applications. This special session invites contributions that discuss both the technical aspects of the technology and process-based geoscience studies using ground-based geodetic tools such as, but not limited to, TLS and GBR. What are the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of the technologies? How is the technology being used to address static and dynamic scientific problems? We envision contributions from many disciplines such as natural hazards, geomorphology, structural geology, glaciology, hydrology, snow science, biological science, tectonic, and volcanology.

while the other emphasizes airborne data:

G13: Airborne Geodetic Imaging: Advances in Instrumentation and Methods
Conveners:  William Eugene Carter - University of Florida, Ramesh L Shrestha - University of Florida, Mahta Moghaddam - University of Michigan

Modern airborne geodetic imaging sensors, including airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM), interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR, UAV SAR), multi-band digital photography, and hyperspectral imaging make it possible to collect high resolution (few meters down to sub-meter scales) topographic data over areas of hundreds to thousands of square kilometers, in time periods of hours. The resolution of these geodetic images is sufficient for developing and testing theories pertaining to land surface processes, and are increasingly being used for such other applications as surface-water hydrology, bathymetric mapping, landscape ecology, mapping of wildlife habitats, and forestry research and management. The focus of this session will be on recent advances in geodetic imaging technologies and methods, and more specifically on advances in the state-of-the-art of the instrumentation, operating procedures, processing, and filtering of observations to achieve the highest resolution and accuracy. Also of interest will be presentations focusing on possible improvements to the information content that might be achieved by combining observations from different geodetic imaging sensors (particularly of different resolutions), and combining geodetic imaging data with other types of observations. Presentations reporting scientific results obtained using geodetic images will be welcome, but the emphasis should be on the geodetic aspects of the research as opposed to discoveries more appropriate for presentation in sessions organized under other disciplines.

The AGU abstract submission deadline is September 3rd, 2009, 23:59 EST

The Lidar Imagery Series (LIS) publications are PDF format maps showing bare earth and first return ("highest hit” in DOGAMI parlance) surfaces.  20 ft contours are shown on the bare earth images while the “highest hit” surface has the vegetation colored by height.  Both maps are quite attractive and appear positioned to replace the iconic USGS 7.5 minute quad maps.  Each LIS quad map costs $30 and can be ordered on CD ROM.

Although the LIS maps are pretty, more exciting is the actual data that was used to generate the maps.  DOGAMI is releasing these data as Lidar Data Quadrangles (LDQ) where each quad includes bare earth, first return and intensity images of the data.  Unfortunately, these data are not available for direct download and instead must be ordered on DVD at a rate of $200 per 7.5 quad.  The good news is that DOGAMI has made the all point cloud data available for free via the NOAA Topographic Change Mapping site and therefore it is possible to access custom gridded products in addition to the point cloud data.

UPDATE (08/27/09 @ 12:40 PM):
I ran a few quick jobs on the NOAA Topographic Change site to extract some of the new DOGAMI LiDAR data.  Below is point cloud data for the Willamette River through downtown Portland, OR.  The bridge in the center of the image is the Burnside:

GeoEarthscope and related LiDAR topography efforts have illuminated thousands of kilometers of active fault traces at decimeter resolution. These new data provide a spectacular opportunity to characterize fault zone geometry, slip-rate variation over time, and the interaction of surface and tectonic processes in the development of tectonic landforms. Bridging the gap in measurements of lithospheric deformation-between the seconds to decades of earthquake seismology and geodesy, compared to the million-year time scale of geology and structural seismology-tectonic landforms and earthquake geology contribute information about the strain release at the 100 to 100,000 year time scale. These results include the slip distribution from recent earthquakes and the shapes and sizes of the semi-independently moving blocks that comprise major fault zones.

Funding for travel and lodging expenses for Speakers is provided by the National Science Foundation.  You can apply online to bring Ramon or other EarthScope Speakers to your institution.

OpenTopography team member Ramon Arrowsmith has a preliminary comparison of the ASTER GDEM data with 90 m Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data on his blog.  Ramon notes that due to various artifacts and high-frequency noise, the GDEM data may not be as impressive as one would hope relative to the SRTM data.

Additional information about the 2009 LiDAR short courses as well as the many other workshops offered by GSA is available on their Short Course Program page.

2009 GSA LiDAR Short Courses:

501. INTERFACE WORKSHOP: Recent developments in the methods and applications of terrestrial laser scanning (ground-based LiDAR) in geologic research and education
Fri., 16 Oct., 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Instructors: John Oldow and Carlos Aiken, Univ. of Texas at Dallas; David Phillips, UNAVCO

This workshop will provide faculty, students, and professionals with the basic principles of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), aka ground-based LiDAR, workflows and best practices for the acquisition and processing of TLS data, an overview of various TLS platforms, and examples of science and education applications. This one-day workshop will consist of lectures and hands-on application of TLS equipment and data processing. TLS provides very high-resolution images over relatively small areas, is relatively inexpensive to acquire, and has been used successfully to support a wide range of geoscience investigations from outcrop mapping to deformation monitoring.

GEON / OpenTopography are collaborators on the INTERFACE project and this should be an excellent workshop for geologists interested in learning about the exciting potential of Terrestrial Laser Scanning.

The second workshop is devoted to airborne LiDAR topography data of the type hosted by OpenTopography.  This 1.5 day course features a long list of very qualified instructors (including me!) and should be an excellent overview and introduction to LiDAR topography for geologic applications.

515. Introduction to the acquisition, visualization, and interpretation of airborne LiDAR-derived digital elevation models
Sat., 17 Oct., 9 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sun., 18 Oct., 9 a.m.–12 p.m. Instructors: Ian Madin, Oregon Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries; Ralph Haugerud, USGS; Michael Oskin, Univ. of California at Davis; Chris Crosby, Univ. of California at San Diego; Ramon Arrowsmith, Arizona State Univ.

LiDAR-derived elevation datasets are becoming widely available and offer digital elevation models (DEMs) of unprecedented resolution and accuracy. This course will teach geoscientists to acquire, visualize, and analyze LiDAR-based DEMs. Guided tutorials on individual workstations will use ESRI ArcGIS software, GEON software products, and LiDAR viewing freeware. The field portion of the class will compare recent high-resolution LiDAR images with the real environment of the surrounding area. The instructors are geologists who have worked with LiDAR data for many years at UC-Davis, Arizona State Univ., the GEON program, and the Puget Sound and Oregon LiDAR Consortia.
This course will be held in the Portland State University Geology Department GIS training laboratory.

Colleagues,

We are advertising for a LiDAR post-doc in Boise - please see the link
below for the great opportunity and pass along!

http://www.isu.edu/humanr/joblist_files/NC0018.shtml

Many thanks,
Nancy Glenn