USGS LiDAR progress in Montana 2026-04-22B - more product-level 1-meter DEMs
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Glenn Borkenhagen
Apr 29, 2026, 11:39:30 AMApr 29
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Greetings to MAGIP -
The USGS recently released some more product-level LiDAR-derived raster (GeoTIFF) 10-km x 10-km one-meter bare-earth DEM (digital elevation model) tiles for Montana.
New coverage is of almost 3,700 square miles, consisting of the entirety of Lincoln County.
A georeferenced PDF showing the area of the latest release is available here. The red area on that PDF was released on Wednesday 22 April 2026.
This project, known within USGS as "MT_Lincoln_D24", is made up of just one work unit. The data was collected from July 2024 to October 2024. All the lidar point clouds (LPCs) used to generate these DEMs is Quality Level 1 (QL1), the highest quality typically provided by USGS.
Right now the new coverage area does not appear on the map images provided at The National Map Download and USGS _ LidarExplorer when you click on "Show" but that should change in the next few days.
As of this writing (morning of Friday 24 April), both of the generally easy-to-use sources in the previous paragraph have this new data available. They usually have the data available for downloading soon after release, before it appears on their respective maps.
Also, the data is available from the USGS Rockyweb server (step-by-step instructions are here) and via Amazon Web Services (AWS - step-by-step instructions are here). On Thursday 23 April 2026 the data was available via both of those methods.
This project is called "2024 USGS Montana Lincoln County QL1 Lidar" on the US Interagency Elevation Inventory webpage.
Finally, a reminder that if the USGS is not yet providing LiDAR point cloud (LPC) or LiDAR-derived DEM data for your area of interest, the Montana_Lidar_Inventory at the Montana State Library has and offers LiDAR coverage not available from USGS. The Montana Lidar Inventory also provides countywide mosaics as well as derived products such as digital surface models (DSMs - including trees, buildings, etc.), tree-canopy-height models, hillshades, contours, and building footprints depending on the area.
Regards,
Glenn Borkenhagen
Cody, Wyoming
307-272-5044
gl...@inlandgps.com
The USGS recently released some more product-level LiDAR-derived raster (GeoTIFF) 10-km x 10-km one-meter bare-earth DEM (digital elevation model) tiles for Montana.
New coverage is of almost 3,700 square miles, consisting of the entirety of Lincoln County.
A georeferenced PDF showing the area of the latest release is available here. The red area on that PDF was released on Wednesday 22 April 2026.
This project, known within USGS as "MT_Lincoln_D24", is made up of just one work unit. The data was collected from July 2024 to October 2024. All the lidar point clouds (LPCs) used to generate these DEMs is Quality Level 1 (QL1), the highest quality typically provided by USGS.
Right now the new coverage area does not appear on the map images provided at The National Map Download and USGS _ LidarExplorer when you click on "Show" but that should change in the next few days.
As of this writing (morning of Friday 24 April), both of the generally easy-to-use sources in the previous paragraph have this new data available. They usually have the data available for downloading soon after release, before it appears on their respective maps.
Also, the data is available from the USGS Rockyweb server (step-by-step instructions are here) and via Amazon Web Services (AWS - step-by-step instructions are here). On Thursday 23 April 2026 the data was available via both of those methods.
This project is called "2024 USGS Montana Lincoln County QL1 Lidar" on the US Interagency Elevation Inventory webpage.
Finally, a reminder that if the USGS is not yet providing LiDAR point cloud (LPC) or LiDAR-derived DEM data for your area of interest, the Montana_Lidar_Inventory at the Montana State Library has and offers LiDAR coverage not available from USGS. The Montana Lidar Inventory also provides countywide mosaics as well as derived products such as digital surface models (DSMs - including trees, buildings, etc.), tree-canopy-height models, hillshades, contours, and building footprints depending on the area.
Regards,
Glenn Borkenhagen
Cody, Wyoming
307-272-5044
gl...@inlandgps.com
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