The whole of Otago will soon be covered by lidar (light detection and ranging) ground mapping.
The Ministry for the Environment is contributing $1.2 million towards the Otago Regional Council project, which will complete the mapping for the entire province.
Council natural hazards spatial analyst Andrew Welsh said Otago and parts of Fiordland were the only regions without full lidar coverage, so the ministry’s contribution was invaluable in helping achieve full coverage across Otago soon.
Lidar mapping improves ground elevation datasets.
It involves sending a beam of light from a device on a low-flying plane, which bounces back from the ground to give a measurement of land elevation.
The technique is used to create elevation maps for large land areas.
At present, there is about 10,200sq km of existing lidar data over 28% of Otago.
That coverage includes Dunedin and Mosgiel, down the coast from the Waitaki River to the Catlins, in parts of the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes districts, plus the Clutha and Waitaki Rivers’ catchments.
"The new project ... will collate a further 23,000sq km of data, or 72% of Otago," Mr Welsh said.
‘‘Combined with the earlier flyover data, there’ll be 100% lidar coverage of the province.
"The data lidar generates is invaluable in understanding and preparing for natural hazards, such as flooding, erosion or landslips, as well as assisting with infrastructure management, hydrology and catchment planning.”
The lidar mapping information will be made publicly available for anyone to use once it is captured and processed.
Flights have begun around the southwest area.
The entire project is expected to be completed in two to three years.
Budgeting for each year has been included in the council’s long-term plan. — Allied Media
