evictee Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 A few weeks ago the Environment Agency released 17 years worth of LIDAR data under an Open Government Licence. This is elevation data they've collected by flying over the country shooting laser beams all over the place and timing how long each pulse takes to return at its mere speed of light. Unbelievable stuff really. Anyway, as an existing user of the Land Registry's open data, I thought I'd take a look at it. I tried rendering some of it as a relief map and found it pretty interesting so I ended up making this map of the country from it: https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map I don't know what it's got to do with the price of houses/fish, but thought some of you might like a look anyway, see if you can find your house maybe, although you might need to be pretty handy with your geography. Actually I've found the countryside more interesting than the towns. I've stumbled across a few otherwise hidden features which have turned out to be known archaeological sites, and maybe even some that are not yet known. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Wow, that is impressive work, well done. And very interesting. I found my car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long time lurking Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 unbelievable all that technology and they couldn`t find Wales or Scotland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybong Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 It's pretty good but they missed out all the dark blue bits - or maybe they're entirely flat. Is the UK turning into the Netherlands. The form for you to give permission for your home being lasered must in the post along with the cheque. Isn't publishing it a threat to national security or are they hoping to make money from it eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Wow, that is impressive work, well done. And very interesting. I found my car. Was it on the other end of that key? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Hasn't LIDAR data been obsoleted by satellite data, such as the highly accurate SAR instruments used by ERS-1 and its successors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichB Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 unbelievable all that technology and they couldn`t find Wales or Scotland Different land registries. Same reason as they didn't cover Norway. Vive la difference or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
200p Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 What to do with it? Make a mould using a 3D printer, automated by a website and electronic payment. People click on a 25m square area, and a piece is sent gift wrapped to the customer with a certificate. Sit back and collect the profits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendy Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Nice but I can't see you usurping Google maps anytime soon! TBPH I prefer Bing though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Have you looked at the Ordnance Surveys open data? They also send it to you on DVDs free of charge. I got all of it about 30 dvds full of different data etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Generation Game Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Are those bomb craters from WWII down the Thames in East London? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wherebee Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I looked at the house of a known criminal who used to live near me and we saw burying something large in his garden one night. I can see a round shape! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendy Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Found it after some trekking up the M1! Seems the lasering around the area isn't that up to date though, plenty been built on a nearby business park since. Good effort anyhows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evictee Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 The blue gaps are sometimes water but mostly just areas they haven't scanned yet, or at least not in the 1 meter resolution data I've used. They seem to have concentrated their efforts on coast, rivers and floodplains, which is not surprising I suppose. No Wales I'm afraid. Devolved away. Natural Resources Wales are planning to release their data next month however, so hopefully I'll be able to add that soon after, if it's in the same format. No idea what the Scots are planning. I don't know about satellite SAR data, I can't find any examples of a comparable resolution online, although I don't suppose the best stuff if going to become open data any time soon. Strange shapes in the water are generally the result of compositing scans taken at different tide times, although I'm a bit confused about how they end up with crater shapes. No, I don't suppose Google will be too worried about the competition, but then again you can't see this medieval field system or this Roman fort using Google Maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Cavey Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Lidar does not work well over water - it's not a great reflector so you get voids in the datacloud, or you just don't process these areas with the same effort that you do for the bit that you are interested in. The other beauty of Lidar is that you "see" through the vegetation cover and produce a terrain model of the actual ground, even if it is heavily forested. At the moment satellite imagery does not get even close to the definition of Lidar and at considerably less cost. It can also be used inside structures or underground - remember in Prometheus where the let some survey drones loose to scan inside the ship? That was Lidar, and the industry is trying to get the equipment light enough to be carried by autonomous multicopters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eight Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 It's really great. Thanks for your efforts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longtermrenter Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Abandoned medieval street system south of Winchelsea. Brilliant https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TQ9043616910 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 It looks fab - you can see a few things on our allotment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Abandoned medieval street system south of Winchelsea. Brilliant https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TQ9043616910 Are you sure they are not simply ancient field boundaries and filled ditches? Edit: I do see a few artifacts that are more likely lanes than field divisions. Elsewhere in England I see some nice traces of ancient ridge-and-furrow farming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justthisbloke Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 When I was a small boy I became fascinated by the story of King John's treasure and used to spend time in libraries and mooching about the fen thinking I would one day track it down. Occasionally, this old habit emerges again - and it certainly did when I saw the LIDAR map. I spent lots of yesterday and today scanning my old hot zones for, I dunno, a LIDAR image of a half-buried crown or something. As I was googling to find a wiki link for this post https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wash#King_John.27s_losing_the_Crown_Jewels I found that other people have been using this data for exactly the same purpose! It's out there somewhere, I tell you. In fact I know where it is - it came to me when I was drunk. All I need is an HPCer to come with me into the fen one dark night - but you can't tell a soul. We'll be rich! Trust me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy T Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Brilliant, as you say, it tests your geography knowledge, I was looking for the Pennines first, then found the ship canal/rivers to navigate to my area. I lazily use google maps to find places, this is free of all the clutter (and advertising) and really highlights how the landscape dominated by rivers/canals and other terrain. Elevated motorway junctions really stand out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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