General Information

The 2011 MSB LiDAR & Imagery Project is a collection of high-resolution elevation data and aerial imagery for 3680 square miles of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (MSB) as well as the development of a number of ancillary datasets. For data management purposes the project has been divided into 7 blocks/areas: Matanuska, Core Area, Point MacKenzie, Willow, Caswell Lakes, Talkeetna, & North Susitna. The project is being managed by the MSB in collaboration with the US Geological Survey (USGS) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

The following partners have contributed funding and/or resources to the project: Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP); United States Geological Survey (USGS); Alaska Energy Authority (AEA); United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS); The Nature Conservancy (TNC); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Mat-Su Salmon Partnership; United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); Alaska Pacific University (APU); & Matanuska Susitna Borough (MSB).

Project Area Map
Project Area Map by Blocks

Current Status

For data management purposes the project has been divided into 7 blocks/areas.

While most of the project area was flown in 2011, a small portion of LiDAR was not collected in Hatcher Pass area and portion of imagery was not collected for the Matanuska Block. Those areas will be collected in 2012.

All the areas that were flown in 2011 are in various states of completion and availability.

The following table provides a status update on the products by block.

The status can fall into one of five categories:

In Production = Being developed by the vendor.
QA/QA = Delivered and going through the Quality Assurance Quality Control (QA/QC) process.
Accepted = Passed the QA/QC process and has been accepted.
Available = Prepared for distribution and available.
N/A = Product not available for the area.

Products

• Orthorectified, multispectral, 4-band imagery (RGB & NIR); ½ ft resolution, for a 270 sq/mi urban area; 1 ft resolution, for the entire 3680 sq/mi project area
• Point Cloud Data w/ 1m true nominal pulse spacing (nps) and 0.6m nps through overlap (these data meet both USGS & FEMA specs); classified and unclassified
• Automated “vegetation” classification; low (1-6ft), medium (6-15ft) and high (>15ft) Intensity Images
• 1 m first return digital surface model (DSM) (aka top of canopy)
• 1 m bare earth digital elevation model (DEM) w/ hydro-flattening
• 1 m first return hillshade
• 1m bare earth hillshade
• 2 ft contours
• Building footprints @ 97% accuracy
• Breaklines

More information about each of these products can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions.

Order Data

LiDAR data is not available just yet.  Check back here in the near future for online ordering.

Downloadable Documents

Project Documents

Frequently Asked Questions

Scope of Work

Project Maps

Project Area Map
Project Area Map by Blocks
LiDAR Acquisition Status Map
Imagery Acquisition Status Map

Reference Documents

USGS - National Geospatial Program - Lidar Guidelines and Base Specification
FEMA - Procedure Memorandum No. 61—Standards for Lidar and Other High Quality Digital Topography