| Abstract: |
Digital Elevation Models, or DEMs, are of critical importance in many different facets of research involving GIS and remote sensing. In the past there have only been limited DEMs available for the state of Connecticut. The most commonly used are the National Elevation Dataset (NED), and Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM), which both can be accessed for free from the USGS website. While these DEMs offer full coverage of the state, their resolution, and accuracy are sub-par for many research applications. Recently the new technology of Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) has made it possible to create drastically more accurate DEMs. While the technology has been around for many years it has never been utilized on a large scale for the state of Connecticut. This project explored the development of a statewide LIDAR DEM for Connecticut with ten foot resolution, as well as possible research applications of these data. The accuracy of the LIDAR data was also compared with that of the best available NED and SRTM data using benchmarks located throughout the state. Finally this project developed an interactive browser so that these data can be accessed by anyone free of charge to utilize for research and demonstrative purposes. |