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How can I access and use second generation lidar data?

The second generation lidar data is provided in modern data formats that are intended for direct access. Users should connect to the services in a preferred desktop GIS software and perform analysis directly. Users may also clip the data to the study extent to create a local copy of the data that is necessary for a specific project or purpose. For further information about downloading second generation lidar data, please see the download guide.

Detailed guidance on how to add Minnesota’s spatio-temporal asset catalog (STAC), virtual raster tile (VRT) and ArcGIS Image Service of Minnesota’s second-generation lidar derived data to desktop applications is available below.

Please note that STAC and VRT products will not load properly in versions of ArcGIS Pro 3.5 or older. As an alternative, users of ArcGIS Pro versions 3.5 or earlier may connect to the Statewide Seamless COG-backed Esri image service, or other DEM work unit image services available through the Minnesota Geospatial Commons.

Resources

  • Information about Second generation Lidar derived data can be found on 2nd Generation Lidar Elevation Data for Minnesota: 2021-2024. Raster data are offered via:
    • STAC Catalog: A machine-readable site that contains raster data such as 100km seamless digital elevation model (DEM) COGs (cloud optimized geotiff) and work unit sized COGs of unblended data.
    • STAC Browser: A user-friendly site that allows browsing the STAC catalog in a readable format.
  • Types of resources available:

Browsing the STAC

The Minnesota Geospatial STAC Catalog was created to share 2nd generation Lidar derived rasters in Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) format or Virtual Rasters.

  • Seamless DEM data is organized by 100 kilometer sections minnesota-100km-sections - Minnesota Geospatial STAC Catalog and a single VRT minnesota-virtual-raster-tile - Minnesota Geospatial STAC Catalog
  • Unblended DEMs delivered by vendors are organized by Lidar Acquisition Blocks (LABs) which are further broken down into work units in some cases.
  • Once you locate your dataset of interest you can use obtain the URL of either COG or VRT for use in your preferred mapping application.
  • For detailed analysis, we encourage users to clip the layer by a bounding box to the necessary study extent and run analysis on the local clipped layer. We do not recommend attempting to download large portions of data including full 100km sections or full LABs.

Adding MnTopo Data to ArcGIS Pro

STAC Catalog

  1. Open ArcGIS Pro
  2. Go to the “Insert” tab > click on the “Connections” icon > scroll down to “STAC connection” and a sub menu will appear > click on “New STAC Connection”
  3. For “Connection Name” type a name of your choice e.g “MN DEM STAC” and for “Connection” add the STAC URL: https://stac.gisdata.mn.gov/
  4. Use the “View” tab > Click on “Catalog Pane” > the Catalog Pane will appear > in the “Project” tab click on the “STACs” folder > then folder will open and you should see “MN DEM STAC”
  5. Right click on “MN DEM STAC” and select “Explore STAC” > you should see the STAC folders
  6. Click on the check box beside your folder of interest then click on “View Results” at the bottom of the “Explore STAC” dialogue or “Results” at the top of the dialogue to see files listed in the folder > select all items manually by clicking the check box, or select all by clicking the check box above the first item and then click on the ADD icon to add the DEMs to the map.

VRTs

  1. Open ArcGIS Pro.
  2. Click on the “Map” tab.
  3. Click on the “Add Data” icon and scroll down to “From Path”.
  4. In the “Add Data From Path” pop-up add the URL (copied from the STAC browser) of your preferred VRT in the Path box, Service type will appear, leave it as “Automatic”, then click “Add”.

Esri Services (Image or Vector)

  1. Open ArcGIS Pro
  2. Click on the “Map” tab
  3. Click on the “Add Data” icon and scroll down to “From Path”
  4. In the “Add Data From Path” pop-up add the URL of your preferred Service the Path box, Service type will appear, leave it as “An ArcGIS Server Web Service”, then click “Add”

Adding MnTopo Data to QGIS

STAC Catalog

  1. Open QGIS
  2. Go to the Browser window and find the STAC connection tool > right click on the STAC connector and select “New STAC Connection” > in the pop-up next to “Name” type a name of your choice e.g “MN DEM STAC” and add the STAC URL: https://stac.gisdata.mn.gov/, then click “OK” in the lower right hand side of the pop-up.
  3. Find the STAC Connector in the browser menu and click on the black triangle to the left off the “STAC” tool to see the STAC connections > You should see the newly created item called “MN DEM STAC”, click on the black triangle next to “MN DEM STAC” and three folders (DEM data) should appear
  4. Click on the black triangle beside your collection of interest and DEMs in the folders will appear.
  5. To load a file listed in your folder of interest into the map, click on it and drag it into your “Layer” menu/map content pane, and it should appear. You can also select multiple items and drag into the map content pane to add multiple items to the map at the same time.

VRTs

  1. Open QGIS
  2. click on “Layer” item in the top menu > scroll down to “Add Layer” and a sub menu will appear, select “Add Raster Layer…”
  3. In the pop-up box under “Source Type” select the “File” radio button > in the “Source” box next to “Raster dataset(s)” add the URL (copied from the STAC browser) of your preferred VRT then click on “Add” > you may be prompted to answer if you would like to stream the dataset, select “Yes”
  4. Close the Add Raster pop-up and you should see the DEM for Southeastern MN but will be missing the far east corner.

Esri Services (Image or Vector)

  1. Open QGIS
  2. Click on “Layer” item in the top menu > scroll down to “Add Layer” and a sub menu will appear, select “Add ArcGIS REST Server Layer…”
  3. In the server connection dialogue click “New”, a “Connection Details” dialogue will pop up. In that pop up, create a name for your connection in the “Name” field,
  4. Add - add the URL (copied from MN Geospatial Commons) of your preferred Image Service in the “URL” field and click “OK” at the bottom of the dialogue box. The pop up will disappear.
  5. Back in the Server Connections dialogue box, click on “Connect”, the connection created will appear in the dialogue, click on the drop-down arrow beside the connection name, click to select/highlight the layer under the connection name and click “Add” and close the dialogue box.