Measuring the Oregon landscape: An update from the Oregon Lidar Consortium on data collection, analysis, and distribution The landscape of Oregon is varied and dynamic, the product of past and ongoing earth system processes. High resolution topographic data characterize earth surface morphology, vegetation characteristics, and the built environment. The Oregon Lidar Consortium (OLC), formed in 2007, is mandated to collect high quality, dense (≥ 8 points/sq m) lidar data across the state and to make these data available to the public. By late 2024 78% of the state had publicly available lidar coverage, while the remainder of the area has been collected and is being processed. Additionally, many areas throughout the State of Oregon have now been covered by one or more repeat lidar datasets, allowing detailed measurements of landscape changes including those driven by coastal, landslide, riverine, vegetation, fire, and urban processes. Opportunities for future collection include targeting known topographic changes as well as to maintain recent observations over wide areas. Another important direction is topobathymetric lidar collection for areas of shallow water including rivers and estuaries to better resolve flood and tsunami hazards and aquatic habitat. This presentation will review the status of lidar acquisition and data availability across the state, example applications to resolve diverse hazards, change detection, and best practices for efficient access to OLC data.
