Data Management Plan

NOAA Contract: EA133C11CQ0009

NOAA Task Order Number: T0013

The PS FY13 GA DNR Elevation Data Task Order involves collecting and delivering topographic elevation point data derived from multiple return light detection and ranging (LiDAR) measurements in 4 counties in Georgia. The Statement of Work (SOW) was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management in partnership with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR) Environmental Protection Division (EPD). The counties included are Barrow,Clarke, Madison and Oglethorpe. The data collected for these 4 counties will exhibit Hydro Flattened DEMs for inclusion into the National Elevation Dataset (NED). The purpose of the data is for use in coastal management decision making, including applications such as floodplain mapping and water rights management.

LiDAR was collected at 1.0 points per square meter (1.0m GSD) for Barrow, Clarke, Madison and Oglethorpe Counties.This area was flown during snow free and leaf-off conditions.

Lineage Statement:
Data were collected and processed by PhotoScience under contract from NOAA Office for Coastal Management. NOAA made the data available for distribution after validating the data.

Process Steps:

• 2013-01-01 00:00:00 - Applanix software was used in the post processing of the airborne GPS and inertial data that is critical to the positioning and the orientation of the sensor during all flights. POSPac MMS provides the smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET) that is necessary for Optech's post processor to develop the point cloud from the LiDAR missions. The point cloud is the mathematical three dimensional collection of all returns from all laser pulses as determined from the aerial mission. At this point this data is ready for analysis, classification, and filtering to generate a bare earth surface model in which the above ground features are removed from the data set.The point cloud was manipulated within the Optech or Leica software; GeoCue,TerraScan, and TerraModeler software was used for the automated data classification, manual cleanup, and bare earth generation from this data. Project specific macros were used to classify the ground and to remove the side overlap between parallel flight lines. All data was manually reviewed and any remaining artifacts removed using functionality provided by TerraScan and TerraModeler. Class 2 LIDAR was used to create a bare earth surface model. The surface model was then used to heads-up digitize 2D breaklines of inland streams and rivers. Inland Ponds and Lakes of 2 acres or greater were also collected. Elevation values were assigned to all Inland Ponds and Lakes using TerraModeler functionality. Elevation values were assigned to all Inland Streams and Rivers using Photo Science proprietary software. All Class 2 LIDAR data falling inside of the collected breaklines were then classified to Class 9 and Class 2 LIDAR data falling within a proximity of three feet will be classified to Class 10 using TerraScan macro functionality. The breakline files were translated to ESRI Shapefile format using ESRI conversion tools. Data was then run through additional macros to ensure deliverable classification levels matching LAS ASPRS Classification structure. GeoCue functionality was used to ensure correct LAS Version. In house software was used as a final QA/QC check to provide LAS Analysis of the delivered tiles. Tiles were run through automated scripting within ArcMap and were combined with the Hydro Flattened Breaklines to create the 4' DEM. Final DEM tiles were clipped to the tile boundary in order to provide a seamless dataset. A manual QA review of the tiles was completed in ArcMap and Global Mapper to ensure full coverage with no gaps or slivers within the project area.
• 2019-11-01 00:00:00 - The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) received the topographic DEM files in ERDAS imagine format from Photo Science. The data for Barrow and Clarke Counties were received in Georgia State Plane West Zone 1002, NAD83 coordinates. The data for Madison and Oglethorpe were received in Georgia State Plane East Zone 1001, NAD83 coordinates. Both sets of data were vertically referenced to NAVD88 using the Geoid09 model. The vertical units of the data are feet. Files were converted to GeoTIFF format for ingest into the Digital Coast Data Access Viewer and to provide the data in an open format. (Citation: LiDAR)

This data can be obtained on-line at the following URL:https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/#/lidar/search/where:ID=2617;