Abstract

Following the 2008 National Lidar Initiative meeting in Reston, Virginia, and realizing the importance of and the growing diversity within our Nation’s lidar data holdings, then U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director Mark Myers commissioned the development of a set of lidar standards. The following year, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) provided the National Geospatial Program (NGP) with significant funding for lidar data collection to enhance the National Elevation Dataset. The requirement for the NGP to collect and assimilate the unprecedented volume of lidar data in a short period of time proved the need for a common specification and standard. Through extensive collaboration with lidar experts within the NGP, the USGS as a whole, the National Digital Elevation Program, and private industry, the 12th draft of the specification was incorporated into the ARRA Lidar Program Announcement. A 13th and final draft was released to the public at the International Lidar Mapping Forum (ILMF) in 2010. That document has become the foundation of lidar specifications worldwide and has been adopted, in large part, by numerous USGS programs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and other U.S. Federal agencies.

The NGP Lidar Base Specification Version 1.0 is the official publication of what is widely known as “the v13 Spec.” It has been completely reformatted and re-edited, and now includes a glossary, a metadata template, and a metadata example file. The substantive content, however, is unchanged from the version 13 draft. Lidar continues to be a rapidly evolving technology, and the NGP anticipates periodic future revisions to this document as changes in the technology, data, applications, and program requirements dictate.

First posted August 17, 2012