Versiondate:Jan3,2013

Downloadsource
Typeofinformation

Filetype

UseanFTPclient(e.g.FileZilla*),notawebbrowser.
Goto:ftp://ftp.lmic.state.mn.us/pub/data/elevation/lidar

Notesforuse

DEM1m(raster)

DEM3m(raster)
DEM3mwithhillshade(raster)
[countymosaiconly]
Contours2ft(vector)
hydrobreaklines(edgeofwaterpolygons)
[countymosaiconly]
.gdb
buildingfootprints(polygons)
The.gdb,orgeodatabase,includesmanydifferent
[notavailableeverywhere]
typesoffilesincluding.shpfiles(vector)andArcGRID
Bareearth(pointdata)
(Asinglepointwithanelevationvaluefor files(raster).Seebelowformoredetail.
eachlasershot)
validationpoints(pointdata)
(afeatureclassofthepointsusedinthe
verticalaccuracyassessment)
Indexofquarterquarterquadrangletiles
(polygons)
(intheTILE_INDEXlayer,seefieldlabeled
DNR_QQQ_ID)

Mosaicofentirecounty:
lidar/county/[countyname]/elevation_data.gdb
(Noticethatthefilehasthesamenameforeachcounty.Thiscan
beaproblemifyoudownloadmorethanonecounty.)
Quarterquarterquadrangletiles:
lidar/county/[countyname]/geodatabase/
Seethetileindexbelowtodeterminewhichtile(s)youneed.
TilesdonotincludethehillshadeDEMorthehydrobreaklines.
FortilesintheArrowhead:
lidar/projects/arrowhead/[blockname]/geodatabase

RequiresESRI(ArcMAP)software.
ThisistheformatthatmostMinnesotaLiDARdataisdeliveredin.
UseArcCatalogtomovefilesaround.Don'tmoveitemswithinfolders
separatelymaintaincompletehierarchy.Derivedproductscanbestored
withinoroutsideofthesefolders.
Seethereadmefileforinformationaboutprojectionandcoordinatesytem.
Ifyouhaveproblemsunzippingthecountymosaic,tryusingadifferentzipping
software.

QA/QC(atablesummarizingallofthetiles
andvariousattributesaboutthem)

Hillshade(1m,B&W)

imagelayer

AvailableaspartofMnGeo'sWMSimageservice;linktoitwithout
downloading.See
AccessusingArcMAPorthefreeArcGISExplorerorGoogleEarth
http://www.mngeo.state.mn.us/chouse/wms/geo_image_server.h
tml

.pdf
(alsopartofthegeodatabasedescribedabove)

lidar/county/[countyname]/tile_index_map.pdf
orfortheArrowhead:
lidar/projects/arrowhead/[blockname]/tile_index_map.pdf

Contours1ft(vector)
Indexofquarterquarterquadrangletiles

Pointcloud(LAS)data:
numberofreturns
x/y/zvaluesofpoints
returnintensity
pointclassification

lidar/county/[countyname]/laz/
.lasand.laz(LAZfilesarecompressedLASfilesandone
orfortheArrowhead:
tenththesizedownloadthese.)
lidar/projects/arrowhead/[blockname]/laz

*FileZillaisavailableat:http://filezillaproject.org/download.php
ArcGRIDfilesarethemostwidelyusedrasterformat,datingbacktothe1970's.Theyareusedforthe1m,3m,andhillshaded
information.Usethisrasterdatatoderivemanyotherproducts(e.g.terrainanalyses).
Rasterdataprovidesasurfaceofelevationinformationbetweencontours.
AlwaysuseArcCatalogtocopy,moveorrenamethefiles.While.adffilesarethecoreoftherasterDEM,theydonotstandalone.
TheyarepartofthelinkedsetoffoldersandfilescalledArcGRIDs.
UseSpatialAnalystinArcGIS(notCivil3D)toconvertelevationstofeet.
ADFisthefileextensionfortheArc/InfoBinaryGridformat.ItisoneofthetworasterGISfileformatsdevelopedbyESRI,theother
beingtheARC/INFOASCIIGridformat.WhereastheASCIIformatisusedexclusivelyasanexchangeorexportformat,thebinary
formatismainlyusedwithintheESRIprograms,likeArcGISandArcView.

Need3rdpartyextension(e.g.LASTOOLS)orstandalonesoftwaretoutilize.
Uselaszip.exetouncompressthefiles.(Seepdflistedbelow.)
LASfilescanbeconvertedtoShapefilesandASCIfiles.
LASfilescanbeusedtogenerateDEMs.
LASfilescanbeexportedtoa.txtfile
DirectionsforworkingwithLAZfilesisat:
ftp://ftp.lmic.state.mn.us/pub/data/elevation/lidar/tools/lastools/LAS_File_
Processing_Using_LASTOOLS.pdf