CelticFieldsObtainLaserdata

How do you get sufficiently detailed laser data online? Generally, they are offered via geoportals or directly by the responsible surveying offices. First we have to distinguish what exactly we want: Screening seamless relief graphics larger areas in sufficiently high resolution, downloading DGMs (Digital Ground Model), also called DTMs (Digital Terrain Model) in the form of xyz point clouds or raster formats – or both. The following tables provide an (incomplete) overview of data sources in the parts of Europe of interest here. An useful list about downloadable laser data can be found at https://planlaufterrain.com/LiDAR-Data-and-FAQ/

Germany, federal state	Seemless view into relief grafics of at least 2 m resolution	Download of point clouds / raster data
Schleswig-Holstein	Impossible	On request at the Landesamt für Vermessung and Geoinformation, for a fee of 80.-€/sqkm, truncated square kilometer tiles will be charged in full!
Lower Saxony	Impossible	On request at the Geoinformation und Landesvermessung, for a fee of 80.-€/sqkm, truncated square kilometer tiles will be charged in full!
Town of Hamburg	Impossible	Data can be freely downloaded in xyz format separated by square kilometer tiles
Town of Bremen	Impossible	On request at the Landesamt Geoinformation Bremen for a fee (I don't know the price)
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	Impossible	On request at the Amt für Geoinformation, Vermessungs- und Katasterwesen, for a fee of 80.-€/qkm (50.-€ for a 2-m-Grid), truncated square kilometer tiles will be charged in full!
North Rhine-Westphalia	Possible in good quality	Data can be freely downloaded in xyz format separated by square kilometer tiles
Hesse	Currently only possible via the Geologiewiever Hessen with higher contrast and via the Soil Viewer (Bodenviewer Hessen) with very low contrast.	1-m raster data are freely downloadable as XYZ data, unfortunately only by municipality, which can lead to extreme loading times and possibly capacity problems for large cities
Brandenburg	Possible in very low contrast quality but high resolution	Data can be freely and easily downloaded in xyz format separated by zipped square kilometer tiles
Town of Berlin	Possible in very low contrast quality but high resolution	Like Brandenburg (free)
Saxony-Anhalt	Impossible	2-m raster data are freely downloadable as XYZ data
Saxony	Possible in excellent quality	1-m raster data are freely downloadable as XYZ data
Thuringia	Possible only in insufficient resolution (5 m grid)	1-m raster data can be freely and easily downloaded in zipped xyz format separated by square kilometer tiles
Saarland	Impossible	On request at the Landesamt für Vermessung, Geoinformation und Landentwicklung, for a fee of 80.-€/sqkm, truncated square kilometer tiles will be charged in full!
Rhineland-Palatinate	Possible in sufficient quality and high resolution via Geologieviewer RLP (copyright marks superimposed)	On request at the Landesamt für Vermessung und Geobasisinformation, for a fee of 80.-€/sqkm, truncated square kilometer tiles will be charged in full! An 80% discount may be granted for research purposes (proof required).
Baden-Württemberg	Possible only in insufficient resolution (5 m grid)	On request at the Landesamt für Geoinformation und Landentwicklung, for a fee of 80.-€/sqkm, truncated square kilometer tiles will be charged in full!
Bavaria	Possible in rather low-contrast quality, but high resolution (copyright marks superimposed)	Online via geodaten.bayern.de in 1-sqkm geotiff tiles, free since the beginning of 2023, download best by county (Landkreis), requires a somewhat tricky procedure and a browser extension, e.g. DownThemAll.

European countries north of the Alps	Seemless view into relief grafics of at least 2 m resolution	Download of point clouds / raster data
Denmark	Possible in nearly insufficient quality	0.8-m data freely downloadable in 1-qkm tiles
Sweden	Impossible (?)	Should be possible for free, but I did not succeed yet. Apparently, high-resolution data for areas outside the mountain forests are fee-based.
United Kingdom	Does not seem possible (anymore)	Data freely downloadable in large tiles
Irland	Possible, slow, so far only small parts of the country	Data apparently freely downloadable
Belgium: Flanders	Impossible	1-m-Data freely downloadable in large tiles
Belgium: Wallonia	Impossible	Data freely downloadable
Netherlands	Possible with insufficient quality	1-m-Data freely downloadable in large tiles
Luxembourg	Possible with very high contrast	Data freely downloadable in tiny 0.25 sqkm tiles, only as LAZ files, from which a DTM must first be calculated, extremely cumbersome for larger areas!
Estonia	Not possible, but it is easy to download a 5m grid for the whole country (too rough for the search!)	Data freely downloadable
Latvia	Impossible	Data freely downloadable in large tiles
Lithuania	Impossible	Data download was not successful, apparently high-resolution data is only available around the larger cities.
Poland	Possible with good quality	1 m raster data or xyz point clouds conveniently and freely downloadable in large tiles
Switzerland	Possible with very good quality	Data freely downloadable
Austria	Impossible	Data freely downloadable (only parts of the country, different depending on the federal state)
Czech Republic	Possible, contrast moderate to good, but data quality poor in forests, especially in uplands	Data quality in forests poor, especially in mountainous areas. On request at the responsible authority, for a fee of approx. 6.50 €/sqkm; truncated 5-sqkm tiles are fully charged! Since payment is only possible in the local currency, high exchange and transfer costs may arise.
Slovakia	Possible, contrast moderate, data not complete so far, only mostly mountains, resolution good	Only insufficient 5 m grid downloadable as DGM. Free higher resolution DGMs must be laboriously loaded and converted via small tiled LAS/LAZ files.

It is deplorable how inconsistent the ways of accessing data and the ways of presenting it are – across the EU, but also within Germany. It is remarkable that many German states do not feel bound by the EU directives that publicly collected data should be available free of charge. The data are offered so overpriced that they can only be used by those institutions that can use the data free of charge, usually the archaeological heritage management and possibly the universities. The climax is that these federal states, with one exception, some time ago cancelled the much cheaper 2-m grid, which is completely sufficient for archaeological purposes, from their offer without giving any reasons. This high-price policy, the yield of which probably does not even finance the employees involved, has regrettably put a stop to extensive data use on the part of independent research. More...