Data Acquisition:

Airborne Laser Scanner (ALS) data was acquired from a fixed wing aircraft on 15 December 2020 to 30 January 2024, using Aerial Surveys Optech Orion Galaxy Prime LiDAR system.

Survey Specification:

 Scanner: Optech Galaxy Prime

 Flying Height: 2,850m - 2,925m AMGL

 Scan Angle: ±25 - 52 degrees

 Scan Frequency: 45 - 65 Hz

 Pulse Rate: 400kHz

 Swath Overlap: 35 - 55%

 Swath Points Per M2: 2 - 4

Data Processing:

The LiDAR sensor positioning and orientation (POS) was determined using the collected GPS/IMU datasets and Applanix POSPac software.

Base Station Positions: PPRTX

The POS data was combined with the LiDAR range files and used to generate LIDAR point clouds in NZTM and ellipsoidal heights. This process was undertaken using Optech LMS LiDAR processing software. The data was checked for completeness of coverage. The relative fit of data in the overlap between strips was also checked.

The height accuracy of the ground classified LiDAR points was checked using open land-cover survey check site data collected by Sounds Surveying Ltd. This was done by calculating height differences statistics between a TIN of the LiDAR ground points and the checkpoints.

 Standard Deviation: 0.037-0.05m

 RMS: 0.037-0.05m

 Average Difference: 0.00-0.005m

 CI95: 0.073-0.098

LiDAR is relative to the control check points.

The positional accuracy of the LiDAR data has been checked by overlaying Sounds Surveying Ltdsurveyed data over the LiDAR data displayed coded by intensity. The data was found to fit well in position.

The point cloud data was then classified with TerraSolid LiDAR processing software into ground and above ground returns using a sparse triangular irregular network (TIN) from the supplied LiDAR points and then classified according to required classes by using automatic iterative process followed by manual correction.Terrascan’s inbuilt macros with different parameters were used to classify low points, ground points, buildings, temporary features and finally vegetation.

The Digital Elevation (DEM) was derived using a point to TIN and TIN to Raster process, using a Natural Neighbour interpolation. Hydro flattening was performed as per part 7 of PGF version New Zealand National Aerial Lidar Base Specification Jan 2020.

Areas of low cropping have been identified and a proprietary method was used to correctly classify ground and vegetation those areas.

Alpine areas were classified using a polygon generated at the 1500m contour with minor adjustments to accommodate any medium/high vegetation along the boundary.

Areas of snow have been identified and a proprietary method was used to correctly classify those areas.

All spatial data for this project provided in terms of New Zealand Transverse Mercator 2000 (NZTM2000) horizontal and New Zealand Vertical Datum (NZVD2016). The data was converted from NZGD2000 ellipsoidal heights into the orthometric height system using the LINZ NZGeoid16 separation model. The products are tiled into NZTopo50 map sheet tiles as noted below.

Classification of the point cloud follows the classification scheme below:

1 - Unclassified

2 - Ground

3 - Low Vegetation

4 - Medium Vegetation

5 - High Vegetation

6 - Buildings

7 - Low Noise

9 - Water

18 - High Noise

The deliverables to LINZ were:

1m gridded bare earth digital elevation model (DEM)

1m gridded digital surface model (DSM)

Classified point cloud