Elevation/LiDAR Data

LiDAR Elevation Products

The WisconsinView Data Portal is the primary archive for Wisconsin public LiDAR projects, including data from counties, FEMA and the national 3D Elevation Program (3DEP).  While not yet a complete archive of all LiDAR data acquired in the state, the collection is growing, especially with new 3DEP projects being completed each year.   

• WisconsinView Data Portal – Primary imagery and LiDAR archive for Wisconsin. It includes FTP bulk download capability.  
• Current inventory of available lidar data sets from WisconsinView (maintained by Wisconsin Department of Administration)
• USGS The National Map – Elevation – Home page for elevation data acquired by the 3DEP program
• NOAA Digital Coast – Home page for coastal data sets including topographic lidar and topobathy.

County Elevation Datasets

Local governments, primarily counties and a few cities, often acquire high-resolution LiDAR for the purpose of creating elevation datasets.   For data not online, you must contact the county or city directly.  Only a small proportion of counties provide online, downloadable elevation products for free.  

• County Land Information Officers
• Local Government Web Mapping Sites
• List of downloadable local government elevation datasets (maintained by Wisconsin Department of Administration)

Other Topographic Datasets

Developed from USGS 1:24,000 paper topographic maps from 1960-1990’s, the National Elevation Dataset was for a long time the only digital elevation data available.  It’s still useful at low resolution especially combined with a shaded relief transparent overlay.

• Wisconsin DNR 10 and 30 meter DEMs derived from the National Elevation Datasets for Wisconsin
• WDNR Elevation REST Services – elevation and shaded relief REST services using the 10 meter NED data.  Currently, there are no high-resolution lidar based elevation web services of the state available.
• Original USGS NED ⅓ arc second (about 10 meters) tiles

Great Lakes Bathymetry and Topobathy

A few bathymetric datasets exist for the Great Lakes, from NOAA. These were collected many decades ago after World War II using acoustic sonar technology.  Topobathy, a combination of topography and nearshore bathymetry, is collected with a special green laser LiDAR that penetrates clear water to a few meters depth along with a regular LiDAR sensor for the shoreland surface.  They are combined into a continuous shore and nearshore DEM.  The US Army Corps of Engineers has a repeating program to collect topobathy along the Great Lakes coasts.

• NOAA Digital Coast – Home page for coastal data sets including topographic LiDAR and topobathy.
• NOAA Center for Environmental Information – Great Lakes Bathymetry
• NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory – Great Lakes Bathymetry
• USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Bathymetry and Elevation of the Upper Mississippi River

Need Assistance?

If you are having trouble locating elevation data in Wisconsin or need further help, please contact us via e-Mail or at (608) 262-3065.