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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 19h

We've deployed a SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) catalog for our raster DEM datasets. This allows users to programmatically search, browse, and access our full library of open DEM datasets. Learn more: opentopography.org/blog/opentop...

A hillshade overlay rendered on the ipyleaflet map from the Jupyter notebook.

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Ryan J Hollister @phaneritic.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Grading is going quickly today, so time to ponder crafting a new volcano for my tissue box collection. Here's a hillshade of the likely candidate courtesy of the awesome folks @opentopography.org making USGS data accessible to educators and artists like me. So, what is the mountain's name?

A greyscale hillshade map of a volcanic mountain that is pretty smooth slopes on the bottom left of picture from top left to bottom right, but steeper slopes and ridges on the top right of the image. a few roads can be seen too.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 15/09/2026

OpenTopography has new lidar datasets, including NOAA data around the San Francisco Bay and bathymetry data along major Appalachian rivers, two large USGS 3DEP datasets in southern California, and a Community Dataspace dataset from southern Japan. opentopography.org/news/august-...

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Zoltán Sylvester @zzsylvester.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Flying through Death Valley, from south to north, to illustrate the differences between the alluvial fans on the eastern and western sides. Flow accumulation maps draped over a digital elevation model. Data: USGS 3DEP (download it from @opentopography.org); processing with @whiteboxgeo.bsky.social

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 03/09/2026

OpenTopography is excited to announce the launch of a new Point Elevation API— a fast, lightweight service that returns the elevation for any location on Earth from our global and regional dataset collection with a single web request. Learn more: opentopography.org/blog/new-poi...

View of the globe with a poinpoint along the western coast of South America and input and output elevation data in text.

Elevation returned by each OpenTopography dataset for three representative locations: an urban area (top row: Denver, CO), an arid desert (middle row: Saharan Reg, Algeria), and a forested region (bottom row: Black Forest, Germany). Bars are color-coded by vertical datum. The middle column shows the regional location of the query point; the right column shows zoomed-in satellite imagery. Differences across datasets reflect differences between sensor type (lidar vs. radar), DSM vs. DTM, spatial resolutions, and vertical reference systems.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 01/09/2026

New data releases on OpenTopography bring new high resolution topographic coverage across Europe, Central America, and the U.S. See all new data releases: opentopography.org/news/july-20...

A hillshade of a DTM of drumlins in southern Finland.

A hillshade draped on a Digital Surface Model (DSM) of an alpine glacier in Norway. Darker blues are higher elevations.

A 50 cm hillshade of a DSM over a section of Zurich, Switzerland.

3D point cloud colored by elevation of Rio Tambor, Guatemala.

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Dr. Felix Henselowsky @henselowsky.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

One factor for catastrophic event in #Nepal is, among other things, the extremely steep relief. Difference in elevation of ~4000m over just a few km. #geomorphology and natural hazards in #Himalaya are unlike anything found anywhere else in the world. @esaearth.esa.int DEM from @opentopography.org

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 25/08/2026

White Sands National Park in New Mexico is an incredibly unique desert with pure white sand, true to its name. But how did the sand get there? youtube.com/shorts/rd0l_...

youtube.com

Wonders of White Sands #shorts #geology

White Sands National Park in New Mexico is an incredibly unique desert with pure white sand, true to its name. But how did the sand get there?

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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Trees, bedrock hills, and small lakes in the eastern Boundary Waters near the Kekekabic Trail. Lidar point cloud (22.34 points/m2!) from USGS via @opentopography.org. Viewed with lidRviewer.

Three dimensional visualization of a lidar point cloud. Individual trees can be identified, along with hills and small lakes.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 27/07/2026

OpenTopography will be hosting a short course on Sept. 23, 2026 prior to the start of the 2026 CLaSH Annual Meeting in Boulder, CO. Deadline extended: Applications and meeting registration are now due by July 31. Learn more & register: sites.google.com/umich.edu/20...

Promotional graphic for a short course titled Multi-Temporal Topographic Analysis of Natural Hazards Using OpenTopography at the 2026 CLaSH Annual Meeting, September 23, 2026, in Boulder, Colorado. The design features a light gray topographic contour background and a red-and-blue elevation change map along the bottom.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 14/07/2026

Please don't go chasing Horseshoe Falls... Niagara Falls may seem timeless, but it's always evolving. High resolution topographic data like lidar lets us measure the falls and monitor the erosion that continues to reshape this iconic landscape. youtube.com/shorts/NCoY_...

youtube.com

Please don't go chasing Horseshoe Falls... #shorts #geology

Niagara Falls may seem timeless, but it's always evolving. High resolution topographic data like lidar lets us measure the falls and monitor the erosion that continues to reshape this iconic…

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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Southern Driftless Area, with deep gullies on steep slopes hidden by trees and then uncovered. Looks like the drainage areas of the gullies above the woods were taken out of crop production in the last 25 years, and from the road I didn't see evidence of recent erosion in the gullies.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 09/07/2026

OpenTopography is pleased to announce the availability of two new continental to global-scale digital terrain models (DTMs): ANADEM, covering South America, and the Global Ensemble Digital Terrain Model (GEDTM), covering nearly all global landmasses. Read more: opentopography.org/news/new-mac...

A Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of a section of the Congo River basin. The DTM is colored by elevation and draped on a hillshade generated from the Global Ensemble Digital Terrain Model (GEDTM).

Image A shows the Google Earth imagery over the upper reaches of the Amazon River in Brazil. Panel B is the DTM generated using ANADEM over the same region, revealing the topography under the dense amazon rain forest.

Image A shows the Google Earth imagery over Tokyo. Panel B is the DTM generated using GEDTM over the same region, revealing the Tokyo's topography with the buildings removed.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 08/07/2026

OpenTopography will be hosting a short course on Sept. 23, 2026 prior to the start of the 2026 CLaSH Annual Meeting in Boulder, CO. Course is free of charge to selected meeting participants. Applications and meeting reg. due by July 24. Learn more & register: sites.google.com/umich.edu/20...

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 02/07/2026

The Cuyahoga River in Ohio has been on fire over a dozen times, which lead to modern environmental regulations. We know the importance of keeping our rivers clean, but what about the land around them? Using lidar, we can look at the floodplain along the Cuyahoga River. youtube.com/shorts/-q3Ct...

youtube.com

Cuyahoga River: Flood and Fire

The Cuyahoga River in Ohio has been on fire over a dozen times, which lead to modern environmental regulations. We know the importance of keeping our rivers clean, but what about the land around…

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Ryan J Hollister @phaneritic.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I should also add that many of these creations would not be possible without the freely available data collected by federally funded science (your tax dollars at work!!) and housed in one place by the amazing folks at @opentopography.org.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 29/06/2026

Five UAS #lidar datasets of Stroubles Creek in Blacksburg, Virginia (Virginia Tech's StREAM Lab) published on OpenTopography. Access the datasets here: portal.opentopography.org/dataSearch?s...

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 09/06/2026

When we say "chai tea," it's really like saying "tea tea." Just like how saying "crag rock" is like saying "rock rock." Seneca Rocks in West Virginia are a prime example of a crag, and a popular traditional vertical climbing location on the East Coast. youtube.com/shorts/IMmq1...

youtube.com

Crags: Seneca Rocks Rock! #shorts #geology

When we say "chai tea," it's really like saying "tea tea." Just like how saying "crag rock" is like saying "rock rock." Seneca Rocks in West Virginia are a prime example of a crag, and a popular…

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 03/06/2026

Registration is now open for the 2026 Near-surface Geophysics Community Input Workshop. Please join us if you are interested in helping to define the future of near-surface geophysics research and infrastructure. More details & registration: events.ringcentral.com/events/near-...

events.ringcentral.com

Near-surface Geophysics Community Input Workshop

Get tickets to Near-surface Geophysics Community Input Workshop, taking place August 25, 2026 to August 26, 2026. RingCentral Events is your source for engaging events and experiences.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 12/05/2026

OT has new datasets, including lidar surveys supporting research in fire-prone SoCal regions and slot canyon studies in Arizona. New USGS 3DEP datasets in NV, OH, and OR, along with Community Dataspace datasets from China, Virginia, and Iceland are also available. opentopography.org/news/april-2...

3D Point cloud colored by intensity of sediment transport into Summer Lake in Oregon.

Canopy Height Model created from a section of the Great Seal State Park, Ohio. Darker greens indicate taller trees.

3D point cloud colored by elevation of the Virginia Tech StREAM Lab.

Hillshade of dam in north western China draped on Google imagery.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 11/05/2026

OpenTopography is working to improve our user experience and interface, and we are conducting a UI/UX study in partnership with the CRUX Lab at Arizona State. Feedback from this ~15 min study will directly contribute to improving the OT platform. Access the study: study.uxtweak.com/cardsort/eS3...

Screenshot of OpenTopography homepage with text "Card Sorting UI/UX Study: Help improve the OpenTopography platform."

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Mark Piper @mdpiper.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

The Topography Data Component fetches land elevation data from OpenTopography and loads it into an Xarray DataArray. Learn more about the Topography Data Component at github.com/csdms/bmi-to....

github.com

GitHub - csdms/bmi-topography: Fetch and cache land elevation data from OpenTopography through an API, BMI, or CLI

Fetch and cache land elevation data from OpenTopography through an API, BMI, or CLI - csdms/bmi-topography

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 17/03/2026

Recent dataset additions on OpenTopo include the nationwide 0.5-meter Netherlands Digital Elevation Model (AHN4), new USGS 3DEP and NOAA Coastal lidar datasets across the United States, and a high-resolution SfM dataset of Italy’s Stromboli volcano. See more ➡️ opentopography.org/news/january...

Digital Terrain Model over Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

3D Point cloud colored by intensity gradient over the Painted Hills in Oregon. The Painted Hills consist of alternating layers of volcanic ash, claystones, and soils with varying colors which respond differently to lidar, causing the bands of intensity in this image.

Hillshade colored by elevation of South Deadman Dome near Mammoth Lakes, California. South Deadman Dome is a rhyolite lava dome and obsidian flow located in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

3D point cloud colored by elevation of the historic section of Charleston, South Carolina.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 16/03/2026

OpenTopography's Spring 2026 webinar series kicks off this week! Join us in March and April for a series of hour-long webinars—perfect for those who are seeking to make better use of lidar data in their research and teaching. Register in advance ⬇️ opentopography.org/news/2026_we...

Graphic advertising dates and titles of OpenTopography's Spring 2026 Webinar Series held on March 18 and 25, and April 1 and 8 at 1 pm ET.

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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

More of the demo: An area of coppice dunes (nebkha) and a dry wash east of the headquarters of Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico. The grassland-shrubland regime shift story. Data from @opentopography.org. Example of why I often like a basic gray hillshade to bring out landforms.

A shaded relief map showing a large area of coppice dunes (small bumps) and the braided channels of a dry wash to the north.

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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Edge of Olympic National Park along the Bogachiel R southeast of Forks, Washington, visualized with a lidar point cloud from @opentopography.org . Left: Canopy height (m), Right: 3D view of point cloud. Used lidR and lidRviewer. Class demo of lidar for tomorrow.

Map of canopy height from a lidar point cloud. Sharp boundaries separate Olympic National Park with unbroken forest and canopy height up to > 80 m, from area with clearcut patches and forest with much lower canopy height outside the park.

Three dimensional view of the sharp boundary between Olympic National Park and the area outside the park that is a patchwork of more or less recently logged areas. The Bogachiel River is toward the back of the image.

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EarthScope Consortium @earthscope.org · 12/03/2026

We have a great series of EarthScope webinars coming up this spring! Tune in next Thursday, March 19 at 12 pm MT to hear Dr. Zhiang Chen (Arizona State University) present on "Robotics for Geoscience: More Data, New Analyses." Register ➡️ loom.ly/4tabSl8

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OpenForest4D @openforest4d.org · 24/02/2026

Identifying #forest canopy gaps is important for understanding forest development & biological diversity. New R notebook outlines a workflow to detect canopy gaps from Canopy Height Models derived from ALS #lidar data. Available at: github.com/OpenForest4D... #RemoteSensing #Forestry #GoogleColab

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OpenForest4D @openforest4d.org · 17/02/2026

How can lidar track a forest's recovery after a fire? 🌲🔥 In this study of the #Kaibab National Forest, researchers used multi-temporal #lidar data to map forest structure and canopy changes over time. Explore the interactive map here: of4d.sdsc.edu/usecases/kai... #RemoteSensing #Wildfire

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 11/02/2026

New Windows GUI for the OpenTopography RiverREM package by @rockiceandsnow.bsky.social 👇 More info on RiverREM: opentopography.org/blog/new-pac... github.com/OpenTopograp...

opentopography.org

New package automates river relative elevation model (REM) generation | OpenTopography

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 05/02/2026

Everyone loves 3D prints of #lidar topography! We put together a how-to tutorial video using the DEMto3D #QGIS plugin to make prints like these examples from @bayesmap.bsky.social. Check it out: opentopography.org/learn/3D_pri...

opentopography.org

3D Printing Digital Elevation Models | OpenTopography

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 04/02/2026

Since its initiation, OpenTopography data and resources have enabled over 1,500 peer-reviewed publications across increasingly diverse science disciplines, demonstrating the broad applications of open topographic data. Read more about OT's publication impact ⬇️ opentopography.org/blog/ot-bibl...

Plot from 2009 to 2025 showing growth of OpenTopography cited in peer-reviewed publications by science domain.

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Ryan J Hollister @phaneritic.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Here’s a nice Saturday Surprise. I just posted 19 new volcano tissue box covers in my Etsy shop. They are 3D printed scale models made using lidar scans from federally funded USGS projects and my photogrammetry. Thanks to @opentopography.org for organizing the data! phaneritic.etsy.com

Volcano tissue box cover in the shape of salt and sea mud volcano erupting a tissue. The box has a gradient of different brown colors.

Volcano tissue box cover in the shape of Lawetlat’la mt st Helen’s erupting a tissue. The box has a pyrite color.

Volcano tissue box cover in the shape of Lawetlat’la mt st Helen’s erupting a tissue. The box has a pyrite color. Detail on print layers

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 29/01/2026

OpenTopography invites you to join a series of weekly, hour-long webinars. The first webinar introduces OT and our new resources, and the subsequent three are aimed at those with familiarity with lidar who are seeking to make better use of these data. Register: opentopography.org/news/2026_we...

Graphic advertising OpenTopography's Spring 2026 Webinar Series, taking place Wednesday, March-April, 2026 at 1 pm ET/10 am PT.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 27/01/2026

We're recruiting new members to serve on OpenTopography's advisory committees! These committees represent OT's users and ensure that activities are aligned with the needs and initiatives of the scientific and educational communities. Learn more & apply: opentopography.org/news/AC_nomi...

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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Cipriano Hills, Organ Pipe Cactus NM (NE of Quitobaquito Springs). I hope you like this but I really just made it for my own nostalgic enjoyment. Data from @opentopography.org, visualized with #rayshader.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 12/01/2026

Check out the latest datasets now available on OpenTopography, which include over a dozen new USGS 3DEP datasets, new NOAA Coastal Lidar, and data collected over the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles, California. opentopography.org/news/decembe...

Lidar point cloud colored by intensity of the neighborhood destroyed by the Eaton Fire.

What are all those light-colored patches on the ground? Gravestones in a cemetery! This is a plot of intensity gradient which is the rate of change in intensity between neighboring points. The intensity of a lidar return over stone is quite different than surrounding grass or soil, so the headstones plot clearly in an intensity gradient style plot.

Colorized point cloud of a Structure from Motion survey of the Crater Elegante in Mexico.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 07/01/2026

Please join OpenTopo's Chelsea Scott & Cassandra Brigham for a WHPC@SDSC Professional Speaker Series talk. Topographic change with OpenTopography: Adventures in cloud computing, spatial uncertainty, and impactful applications Feb. 25, 2026 at 1–2 pm PT Register: www.sdsc.edu/events/20260...

Event flyer for the San Diego Supercomputer Center Women in High Performance Computing Professional Speaker Series featuring Dr. Chelsea Scott and Dr. Cassandra Brigham, titled “Topographic change with OpenTopography,” with date Wednesday, February 25, 2026, 1:00–2:00 pm PST, over a shaded relief topography background.

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EarthScope Consortium @earthscope.org · 07/01/2026

The NSF National Geophysical Facility will be expanding support for near-surface geophysics. Your input can help shape future efforts for research and teaching with near-surface geophysics! Please take a few minutes to complete this survey ➡️ loom.ly/tVEZXlE

Illustration of a person pushing a ground-penetrating radar cart across grass, with subsurface waves shown belowground. Text reads “Near-Surface Geophysics Support” and “Community input needed!” with NSF and National Geophysical Facility (operated by EarthScope) logos at the bottom.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 16/12/2025

At #AGU25? Be sure to check out these presentations by OpenTopography team members! OT at AGU: opentopography.org/news/opentop...

Cassandra Brigham et al.: EP41E-1848 A geostatistically grounded workflow for spatial uncertainty quantification in lidar topographic differencing Thursday, 18 December 2025, 8:30 - 12:20, Hall EFG (Poster Hall)

Chelsea Scott et al.: B43J-2061 Monitoring forest structure change using multi-temporal airborne lidar workflows in OpenForest4D Thursday, 18 December 2025, 14:15 - 17:45, Hall EFG (Poster Hall)

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OpenForest4D @openforest4d.org · 10/12/2025

Join us at our #AGU25 poster to discover how we harnesses airborne & satellite #lidar data using advanced workflows to uncover powerful insights on forest structure, biomass, and how landscapes change over time. agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/me... #OpenScience #WildfireRecovery #EcosystemChange #RStats

Monitoring forest structure change using multi-temporal ALS workflows in OpenForest4D

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Ryan J Hollister @phaneritic.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

I want to give a shout out to the good folks at @opentopography.org for making it so EASY to search for and download publicly available digital elevation models and point cloud data sets. They are a spectacular resources that I use a lot in my classes! Data citations for boxes are at listings' end.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 10/12/2025

November's new data releases on OpenTopography include a new Community Dataspace dataset and USGS 3DEP coverage in California, plus NOAA Coastal Lidar over Ohio. Read more and access data: opentopography.org/news/novembe...

Colorized point cloud of mobile lidar scans in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias in California. Data Source:

Lidar point cloud colored by intensity of the stadium at Bowling Green State University. Note the yard markings and end zone lettering can be seen due to the variation in the lidar return intensity between dark, light, and colored grass.

Lidar point cloud colored by elevation of downtown Los Angeles, California.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 10/12/2025

Final year for NSF-supported NCALM seed project proposals! Great opportunity for students to get free #lidar for research. Focus this year is projects in the Alaskan Arctic. Data become open via OT. To date there are 252 NCALM datasets available on OT (red ⬇️) Info: ncalm.cive.uh.edu/seed-proposals

Map of CONUS showing areas of NCALM lidar data collection available via OpenTopography in red.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 09/12/2025

Connect with OpenTopography at #AGU25 in New Orleans next week! Our booth (908) is staffed by the OT team and is a great chance to ask questions, provide feedback, or to discuss lidar, high resolution topography, and cyberinfrastructure. opentopography.org/news/opentop...

AGU25 graphic, 'Connect with OpenTopography at AGU in New Orleans! December 15-19, 2025. Booth #908' with an outline of a meandering river.

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OpenForest4D @openforest4d.org · 04/12/2025

Discover how #lidar reveals wildfire impacts & landscape recovery. Case studies in Arizona & Los Angeles show how 3D data helps us quantify canopy loss, hazards, & restoration after major fires. #LAfires #Kaibab Watch the new #wildfire science video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Joz...

youtube.com

Measuring Wildfire Impact: Lidar Analysis of Arizona and California Fires

YouTube video by OpenForest4D

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OpenForest4D @openforest4d.org · 01/12/2025

Generate #forestry products from #lidar topography data with lidR! Reproducible R notebook guides users through #pointcloud filtering, raster generation & forest metrics extraction to produce key outputs like canopy height models. Explore notebook: github.com/OpenForest4D... #googlecolab #geospatial

+ representing tree tops on smoothed CHM

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 10/11/2025

For the last several decades, scientists have been developing a way to make our maps more reliable with point cloud data collected by lidar. Lidar is an accurate method that helps scientists to map cities, landscapes, and places that were previously difficult or dangerous to access.

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OpenTopography @opentopography.org · 03/11/2025

New for educators! Lab Exercise: Using lidar to track Lake Michigan bluff retreat and inform local communities Designed for community college and intro-level geomorph, enviro sci, and GIS courses, students use lidar data to learn about dynamic coastal erosion. opentopography.org/learn/WI_blu...

Side-by-side view of an aerial photo of the Wisconsin coastline along Lake Michigan showing a bluff and change along the Michigan coastline showing topographic hillshades (left) and vertical change (right) from 2010- 2020.

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