LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) is an active remote sensing technology used to map the earth's surface.
Laser range observations between a moving vehicle, such as an airplane, and the earth's surface are combined with vehicle location and position information to generate a dense volume of data points called a point cloud.
Each point in the point cloud represents a location on the earth's surface with latitude, longitude, and elevation. The point cloud is a 3D representation of terrain and objects, like trees or buildings.
LiDAR point cloud data provides accurate 3D information for various mapping products, including:
Over the past several years, the Province of British Columbia has made significant investments in LiDAR and has now released provincial LiDAR collections under the Open Government License – British Columbia making it freely available for anyone to download and use. This LiDAR data includes LAZ point cloud data and various LiDAR-derived products.
To learn more about LiDAR, visit the LidarBC Website
Digital Elevation Model Specifications
Digital Data Naming Conventions
The LiDAR program is managed by GeoBC.
General enquiries: GeoBCinfo@gov.bc.ca
For any LiDAR related enquires contact the LidarBC inbox: Lidar@gov.bc.ca.
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