USGS LiDAR progress in Wyoming 2026-05-27 - more LiDAR elevation source data
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Glenn Borkenhagen
May 28, 2026, 11:11:32 AM (8 days ago) May 28
to Wyoming Geospatial Organization
Greetings to WyGeo -
The USGS recently released some more aerial LiDAR point cloud (LPC)
and original product resolution (OPR) digital-elevation-model (DEM)
tiles for Wyoming.
New coverage is of about 2,250 square miles consisting of the
entirety of Goshen County.
A georeferenced PDF map showing the area of the latest releases is
available
<https://inlandgps.com/LiDAR/New_Wyoming_LiDAR_2026-05-27.pdf>here.
The green area on that map was published on Wednesday 27 May 2026.
The data was collected from July 2024 through May 2025. These tiles
are Quality Level 1 (QL1) data, the highest quality typically provided by USGS.
Right now the darker-green QL1 coverage area does not appear on the
images currently provided at
<https://apps.nationalmap.gov/downloader/>The National Map Download
and
<https://apps.nationalmap.gov/lidar-explorer/#/>USGS_<https://apps.nationalmap.gov/lidar-explorer/#/>LidarExplorer
when you click on "Show" but that should change in the next few days.
As of this writing (morning of Thursday 28 May), both of the
generally easy-to-use sources in the previous paragraph seem to have
this new data available. They usually have the data available for
downloading soon after release, before it appears on their respective maps.
The coverage area already has QL2 LPC coverage from previous
projects, so if you want to use the latest higher-quality data and
use the selection methods provided at The National Map Download or
USGS LidarExplorer make sure "WY Southeast D24" appears in the
name(s) of the tile(s) because those selection methods will get all
data for an area regardless of the project. It may make more sense
to use one of the selection methods from the next paragraph,
especially if it is desired to download all the new data.
If someone is anxious to begin using the new data, it is available
from the USGS Rockyweb server (step-by-step instructions are
<https://inlandgps.com/LiDAR/GB%20Notes%20-%20LiDAR%20data%20from%20Rockyweb.pdf>here)
and Amazon Web Services (AWS - step-by-step instructions are
<https://inlandgps.com/LiDAR/GB%20Notes%20-%20LiDAR%20data%20from%20AWS.pdf>here).
On Thursday 28 May 2026 both the LPC and OPR data was available via
both of those methods.
To facilitate use of those sources -
The project is "WY_Southeast_D24"
The work unit is "WY_Southeast_3_D24" both without the quotes.
Product-level raster (GeoTIFF) one-meter 10-km x 10-km digital
elevation models (DEMs) are not yet available for this new
data. Generally USGS delays issuing new product-level DEMs until
after all LPCs and OPRs in a project are completed and released.
This project is called "2024 USGS Wyoming Southeast Lidar" on the
<https://coast.noaa.gov/inventory/>US Interagency Elevation Inventory webpage.
Regards,
Glenn Borkenhagen
Cody, Wyoming
307-272-5044
gl...@inlandgps.com
The USGS recently released some more aerial LiDAR point cloud (LPC)
and original product resolution (OPR) digital-elevation-model (DEM)
tiles for Wyoming.
New coverage is of about 2,250 square miles consisting of the
entirety of Goshen County.
A georeferenced PDF map showing the area of the latest releases is
available
<https://inlandgps.com/LiDAR/New_Wyoming_LiDAR_2026-05-27.pdf>here.
The green area on that map was published on Wednesday 27 May 2026.
The data was collected from July 2024 through May 2025. These tiles
are Quality Level 1 (QL1) data, the highest quality typically provided by USGS.
Right now the darker-green QL1 coverage area does not appear on the
images currently provided at
<https://apps.nationalmap.gov/downloader/>The National Map Download
and
<https://apps.nationalmap.gov/lidar-explorer/#/>USGS_<https://apps.nationalmap.gov/lidar-explorer/#/>LidarExplorer
when you click on "Show" but that should change in the next few days.
As of this writing (morning of Thursday 28 May), both of the
generally easy-to-use sources in the previous paragraph seem to have
this new data available. They usually have the data available for
downloading soon after release, before it appears on their respective maps.
The coverage area already has QL2 LPC coverage from previous
projects, so if you want to use the latest higher-quality data and
use the selection methods provided at The National Map Download or
USGS LidarExplorer make sure "WY Southeast D24" appears in the
name(s) of the tile(s) because those selection methods will get all
data for an area regardless of the project. It may make more sense
to use one of the selection methods from the next paragraph,
especially if it is desired to download all the new data.
If someone is anxious to begin using the new data, it is available
from the USGS Rockyweb server (step-by-step instructions are
<https://inlandgps.com/LiDAR/GB%20Notes%20-%20LiDAR%20data%20from%20Rockyweb.pdf>here)
and Amazon Web Services (AWS - step-by-step instructions are
<https://inlandgps.com/LiDAR/GB%20Notes%20-%20LiDAR%20data%20from%20AWS.pdf>here).
On Thursday 28 May 2026 both the LPC and OPR data was available via
both of those methods.
To facilitate use of those sources -
The project is "WY_Southeast_D24"
The work unit is "WY_Southeast_3_D24" both without the quotes.
Product-level raster (GeoTIFF) one-meter 10-km x 10-km digital
elevation models (DEMs) are not yet available for this new
data. Generally USGS delays issuing new product-level DEMs until
after all LPCs and OPRs in a project are completed and released.
This project is called "2024 USGS Wyoming Southeast Lidar" on the
<https://coast.noaa.gov/inventory/>US Interagency Elevation Inventory webpage.
Regards,
Glenn Borkenhagen
Cody, Wyoming
307-272-5044
gl...@inlandgps.com
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