LiDAR Data

Big Convention, Big Savings

As part of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) that came to Denver in August of 2008, lots of preparations took place. One key preparation is the gathering geospatial data. The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, under the administration of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), collected Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data for a large portion of the Denver metropolitan area, including a significant percentage of the City of Arvada.

LiDAR is the state of the art in producing very precise base data mapping, providing highly accurate 3-D terrain models including buildings, trees, ground elevations, and two-foot countour intervals to comply with Federal Emergency Management requirements.

Because the USGS is gathered this data as part of the preparation for the Democratic National Convention, Arvada received access to that data already being collected at no cost. In addition, the USGS collected LiDAR data on that portion of Arvada not already being covered, providing base data information for the entire City. Due to the economies of scale, the City of Arvada recieved this data for a total cost of $17,771. By comparison, one metro-area city of similar size recently paid $80,000 for the same data. Another city requested bids for LiDAR coverage in 2007 and received bids of up to $100,000.

On February 4, 2008 the Arvada City Council approved a resolution authorizing a joint funding agreement bertween the City and the U.S. Department of the Interior in the amount of $17,771 to collect the LiDAR data, which will allow us the ability provide such services as line-of-sight analysis, cut and fill calculations, urban forestry applications, shadow analysis, and more. The data being collected (.7m) is the highest resolution data that can currently be collected-essentially, elevation points every two feet across the City.