Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

This site is currently in beta, and your feedback is helping shape its ongoing development.

Erosion Monitoring along the Coosa River, Alabama, using Terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging (T-LiDAR) Technology, 2014-2017

Published by U.S. Geological Survey | Department of the Interior | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2020-08-21T00:00:00Z
These datasets contain XYZ locations and other attributes of points from topographic bank surveys at six sites downstream from three dams on the Coosa River in Alabama, from October 2014 through July 2017. At the four sites downstream from H. Neely Henry and Walter Bouldin Dams, topographic data were collected using a motion-compensated LiDAR (MC-LiDAR) system mounted on a marine survey vessel equipped with an inertial navigation system (INS). Data were collected as the vessel traversed the river along a survey line near the site. Data collection software integrated and stored the range and angular measurements from the LiDAR, and the horizontal and vertical position and attitude data of the vessel from the INS in real time. Data processing required computer software to extract topography data from the raw data files and to summarize and map the information. At the two sites downstream from Logan Martin Dam, topographic data were collected using a tripod-based terrestrial LiDAR (T-LiDAR) system at several tripod setups distributed throughout the reach. Data collection software integrated and stored the range and angular measurements from the T-LiDAR. PolyWorks software was utilized to process the raw data, align the various scans in reference to one another, and extract the topography data in a useable format. Point Cloud comparison software was then used to compute the distance and volume gain or loss between surveys.

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov