Canadian
Lidar Data

Sources of Free
and
Open Data

Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing technology that many people consider to be relatively new (to find out more about Lidar including history, uses and the technology behind it … click here). However the use of Lidar in geomatics dates back to the 1980s when the deployment of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) combined with inertial measurement units (IMU) allowed precise positioning of aircraft, provided the ability for airborne surveying.

So although it’s not actually new technology it has recently become more common in geospatial related projects over the past few years. Canadian Lidar data can be pretty expensive, therefore is often not available in most open data catalogues. However times are changing, thanks to continuous improved technology, combined with increased supply and demand from the geospatial user community, we’re starting to see more and more Lidar data sets made available to the public.

Since starting the Open Data Resources list in 2010, we have received thousands of requests to help people find various Canadian data to use with their geospatial projects. And during that time maintained an unofficial list of places that provided Canadian Lidar Data to use for free. In 2016 we provided the list to everyone in the hopes that more people can use of this data and that the geospatial community might help add more sources to it.

The information on this page is now driven by community support! We continue to update it as we learn about more free Lidar data sources. If anyone knows of other free Lidar that we have missed then let us know so we can make share it with others.

One of the main problems with lists like this is that it’s hard to keep up with Governments and Agencies websites, so please also make sure to report any dead links to us.

[Updated: Feb 2023 – Originally Published in 2016]