Identify the LiDAR data tiles required
This article is useful for mapping within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). If your mapping is outside the ACT, then you’ll need to find your own LiDAR data source.
ACT LiDAR data is arranged into tiles. Before you get the LiDAR data itself, you’ll need to work out which data tiles you need.
- The tiles are arranged in a grid pattern, aligned to the UTM co-ordinate system.
- Tiles are 2km x 2km squares.
- The tiles are named after the UTM co-ordinates of their south-west corners.
- The south-west corners of the tiles always have UTM co-ordinates that are a multiple of 2,000.
I plotted some co-ordinate points on the ACT Government’s ACTmapi tool to show the grid arrangement of the LiDAR data tiles.
You can see in the screenshot above that my project mostly resides in the south-western tile (with corners at points numbered 1, 2, 4 5). But it creeps across the grid into the adjacent tiles to the north, north-east and east.
My project requires four tiles.
The file name of the tiles will include the first three digits of the UTM easting, and the first four digits of the UTM northing. For example, the south-western tile will have a filename that includes 6886096.
My project will require tiles named like:
- 6886096
- 6886098
- 6906096
- 6906098.
This article is part of the Orienteering Mapping with LiDAR, Smartphones and Free Tools series.
Polite and constructive responses are always welcome.
