Obtaining LiDAR

Owned by Cecilia Tram
Last updated: 07, Feb, 2024 by Cecilia Tram
3 min read

Free LiDAR - data older than 3 years
Free LiDAR as a service – data older than 3 years
Purchase recent LiDAR - less than 3 years old

The Department of Resources has an ongoing LiDAR capture program. Data is made available for purchase, and data out of licence is made available for free to download.

Free LiDAR older than 3 years

LiDAR data older than 3 years is free to download from the ELVIS Portal (Geoscience Australia).

In ELVIS to view the footprint of DEM and Point Cloud data, click on the Layers button in the top menu and check the boxes. Adjust the opacity of the layers to view the base imagery in the keymap.

You can zoom to your area of interest or use the ‘Location Search’.

To discover DEM/DSM or Point Cloud data for an area of interest, click ‘Order Data’ (1).

 Select one of the draw tools (2) and click the ‘Draw’ button (3). 

Draw the area in the keymap (4) and click ‘Search’ (5). 

The search results will display to the right of the keymap and will be sorted by the data provider.

Expand the search results you are interested in downloading. Move your mouse over each of the zip files to refine the area of the data in the keymap.

Check the box to select each data file to be downloaded, select your industry and enter your email address.

Note:  Select ‘Other’ if you wish to keep your industry anonymous.

Click the ‘Order X Dataset (approx.. X.XX MB)’. You will receive an email with the selected dataset/s.

Free LiDAR as a services – data older than 3 years

You can consume LiDAR data as a web service using a GIS application. The following services are available and contain: 

  • 1 metre LiDAR DEM

  • 1 second (30 metre resolution) hydrologically corrected SRTM Digital DEM

  • 30, 100, 250 metre resolution bathymetric data

Queensland DEM: Time Series

Imagery Layer endpoint - https://spatial-img.information.qld.gov.au/arcgis/rest/services/Elevation/DEM_TimeSeries_AllUsers/ImageServer

WMS endpoint https://spatial-img.information.qld.gov.au/arcgis/services/Elevation/DEM_TimeSeries_AllUsers/ImageServer/WMSServer

Detailed metadata record can be viewed in QSpatial Catalogue: here

Queensland DEM: Latest Cache

Imagery Layer endpoint https://spatial-img.information.qld.gov.au/arcgis/rest/services/Elevation/QldDem/ImageServer

WMS endpoint https://spatial-img.information.qld.gov.au/arcgis/services/Elevation/QldDem/ImageServer/WMSServer

Detailed metadata record can be viewed in QSpatial Catalogue: here

For assistance or support connecting to services refer to the Topics in the Imagery and Elevation Knowledge Base.

LiDAR - less than 3 years old

LiDAR data less than 3 years old can be purchased.  A range of products providing digital data files containing contour patterns suitable for 1:25,000, 1:10,000, 1:5,000 and 1:2,500 scale mapping. Digital elevation models derived from this contour information are also available. Products and pricing:

 Classified LAS data derived from LiDAR

  • Per 1 km square tile within a single project area, minimum of 25 tiles: $29.06 (inc. GST).

Contour data (25cm) derived from LiDAR

  • Per 1 km square tile within a single project area, available in shapefile format, minimum of 40 tiles: $8.20 (inc. GST).

Data terrain model data derived from LiDAR

  • Per 1 km square tile within a single project area, in ASCII Z grid or XYZ format, minimum of 50 tiles: $4.10 (inc. GST).

Data access, elevation/relief (customised data request service)

  • Price on application with minimum charge: $773.88 (inc. GST).

Complete the Purchase Imagery and LiDAR form to place an order or make an enquiry.