Getting Started
What is OpenTopography?
OpenTopography facilitates access to high-resolution, Earth science-oriented topography data and related tools and resources. We provide access to high resolution topographic data collected with technologies such as lidar and photogrammetry, co-located with on-demand processing tools to generate derivatives and visualizations. Global topographic datasets are also available. OpenTopography is funded by the US National Science Foundation.
Find and Download Data
Discover and access high resolution topography datasets via the Find Topography Data map interface.
View a listing of available high resolution topography datasets available via OpenTopography along with detailed metadata information.
Available datasets include: OpenTopography lidar coverage (red outlines on data map), community contributed data (purple outlines), USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP)* data (green outlines), in addition to four different global datasets that cover the globe at a variety of resolutions.
* USGS 3DEP data access and processing via OpenTopography is only available to our academic research and education community. K-12 teachers, international academics, and informal educators can apply for access here.
Access data and metadata via OpenTopography APIs.
OpenTopography Processing Tools
Explore on-demand processing tools that OpenTopography offers for hosted datasets.
Create a MyOpenTopo account to access a personalized workspace, see real-time status updates for your jobs, access previously submitted jobs, and increase your job size limits. You do not need an OpenTopography account to access and process lidar datasets.
Learn about what lidar is, how lidar works, and how lidar is used, in addition to other video resources on lidar.
Find Video Tutorials on OpenTopography tools, ArcGIS, and CloudCompare in addition to other Online Training.
View our FAQ Page for answers to some of the most frequently asked questions related to OpenTopography.
The OpenTopography Tool Registry provides a community populated clearinghouse of software, utilities, and tools oriented towards high-resolution topography data (e.g. collected with lidar technology) handling, processing, and analysis.