Search, Visualize, and Download US LiDAR Data in Seconds

Accessing USGS LiDAR data has traditionally required navigating the National Map download interface or writing code to query the Microsoft Planetary Computer STAC API. The USGS LiDAR Viewer I built on top of the maplibre-gl-lidar plugin simplifies this to a few clicks: search for point clouds anywhere in the US, stream them directly in your browser, inspect individual points, and download the data to your computer.

In this tutorial, I walk through the full workflow using Cloud Optimized Point Cloud (COPC) data hosted on Microsoft Planetary Computer.

What You Will Need¶

• A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Edge)

• An internet connection

No software installation or accounts are required. The web app is entirely serverless and hosted on GitHub Pages.

Understanding the Coverage¶

When you open the USGS LiDAR Viewer, the map displays the 3DEP coverage index. The legend in the upper-left corner shows the nominal point cloud spacing (spatial resolution) for each area:

• Darker blue: Higher resolution (e.g., 0.35 m spacing, meaning multiple points per square meter)

• Lighter blue: Lower resolution

As you zoom in, the coverage footprints become more detailed. The data comes from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), which has been systematically acquiring LiDAR across the United States.

Search for Point Clouds¶

1. Zoom to your area of interest. You can press Shift and drag to draw a zoom rectangle for faster navigation.

2. Click the search button (second-to-last button on the right panel).

3. Choose to search by map extent or draw a rectangle for a more precise area.

4. The search results appear as footprint tiles on the map. Each tile represents one COPC file.

On the right panel, a list shows all available tiles. You can click the + button next to individual tiles, or click directly on the map to select multiple tiles (they highlight when selected).

Load and Visualize Point Clouds¶

1. Select one or more footprint tiles on the map.

2. Click Load Selected.

The point cloud streams directly from Microsoft Planetary Computer and renders in your browser within seconds. You can interact with the 3D data immediately:

• Scroll to zoom in and out

• Click and drag to pan

• Ctrl + drag to rotate and tilt the view

The data is streamed using COPC format, so only the tiles visible at your current zoom level are loaded. No data is downloaded to your computer unless you explicitly request it.

Customize the Visualization¶

Point size and opacity¶

Adjust the point size slider to make individual points larger (smoother appearance) or smaller (more detailed). The default is 2. You can also adjust the opacity to see through the point cloud to the basemap below.

Z offset¶

LiDAR point clouds store absolute elevation values (meters above a reference datum). By default, the viewer calculates and applies a Z offset to bring the points down to ground level on the map. Without this offset, the points would render high above the basemap. The offset is applied automatically, but you can adjust the slider manually if needed.

Visualization modes¶

Switch between different visualization modes using the controls:

• Elevation: Points colored by height. The default view, useful for understanding terrain and building heights.

• Intensity: Points colored by return signal strength. Brighter areas indicate higher reflectance (e.g., concrete, rooftops), while darker areas indicate lower reflectance (e.g., vegetation, water).

• Classification: Points colored by their LiDAR classification labels (ground, low/medium/high vegetation, buildings, water, etc.). You can toggle individual classes on and off to isolate specific features.

• RGB: If the point cloud includes color information, this shows true-color points. Not all datasets have RGB attributes.

Elevation filter¶

The elevation filter lets you slice through the point cloud vertically. Drag the slider to remove points above or below a threshold. This is useful for isolating ground-level features, removing tall buildings, or examining specific elevation bands.

Point picking¶

Enable point picking to inspect individual points. Hover your mouse over any point to see it highlighted in yellow and view its attributes (coordinates, elevation, intensity, classification, etc.).

Download Data¶

Two options are available for getting the data onto your local machine:

• Download Selected: Click the download button to save the selected COPC files directly to your computer. A dialog lets you choose where to save each file.

• Copy Signed URL: Copy the temporary signed URLs for the selected tiles. These URLs include an access token from Planetary Computer and can be used in other tools (the LiDAR point cloud viewer, QGIS, Python, etc.) to access the data directly.

The signed URLs are temporary. For bulk access or long-term use, set up your own Microsoft Planetary Computer account.

Run the App Locally¶

The source code is open source and available on GitHub. To run it on your own machine:

git clone https://github.com/opengeos/maplibre-gl-usgs-lidar.git
cd maplibre-gl-usgs-lidar
npm install
npm run build
npm run dev

You can also customize the app to work with your own LiDAR data by pointing it at a different STAC catalog.

Resources¶

• USGS LiDAR Viewer: usgs-lidar.gishub.org

• GitHub Repository: github.com/opengeos/maplibre-gl-usgs-lidar

• MapLibre GL LiDAR Plugin: github.com/nicorevin/maplibre-gl-lidar

• Microsoft Planetary Computer: planetarycomputer.microsoft.com

The web app is entirely serverless, deployed on GitHub Pages for free, and works with any STAC-compatible point cloud catalog. Feel free to adapt the source code for your own LiDAR datasets. If you have questions or feature requests, open an issue on the GitHub repository.