Is anyone using NOAA Lidar data to generate surfaces? I don't want a philosophical debate to rage here. I use it for compiled exhibits and some job planning exercises.
I know that folks are using it in conjunction with a transect performed in the field and then raising or lowering the lidar surface to fit their transect. Based on what I see in the various governing publications, I don't think this method is statistically valid.
Is anyone familiar with the NOAA, USGS, and ASPRS publications and willing to lend an opinion?
Yes.
I have a methodology to convert the GeoTiffs that were created from the lidar sets to contours with QGIS. The contours are ugly, but not too bad.
I have just finished my first surface using Carlson's Point Cloud Software to generate a TIN of the area. I then took my good TIN and merged it into the lidar TIN. I will put the good TIN boundary on the final plan and certify accordingly.
We have been manually merging aerial topos to our ground topos for years. I hope thi smethod will go faster.
thadd at ese-llc dot com
Thadd