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OpenTopography April 2026 Data Releases
3D Point cloud colored by intensity of sediment transport into Summer Lake in Oregon
OpenTopography added new high resolution datasets in April 2026, including lidar surveys supporting vegetation and ecology research in fire-prone Southern California regions and slot canyon studies in Arizona. New USGS 3DEP datasets in Nevada, Ohio, and Oregon, along with Community Dataspace datasets from China, Virginia, and Iceland are also now available.
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Invitation to Participate in a Short OpenTopography Usability Study
OpenTopography is working to improve our user experience and interface. We have partnered with the CRUX Lab at Arizona State University to conduct a UI/UX card sorting study. The study results will be used to help OpenTopography users better find what they are looking for faster. The activity takes 15 minutes to complete, can be done in any web browser, and is anonymous.
Access the Study

New Video: Topographic Contour Lines
This video shows multiple examples of contour lines and discusses what we can learn about the shape of the landscape from contour lines.

Find all OpenTopography video tutorials here.

OpenTopography Plus (OT+)
Map of the US showing coverage of lidar data available on OT+
OpenTopography Plus (OT+) is a subscription-based program that enables access to our platform of user-friendly services applied to high resolution lidar topography data covering the vast majority of the US’s lower 48, Hawaii, and territories, as well as high resolution photogrammetric topography over the Arctic and Antarctic.
Subscribe to OT+

Video Short: How the Last Ice Age Shaped New York’s Landscape
Thumbnail preview of video "Laurentide Landscapes" featuring presenter over a regional DEM
The Finger Lakes in upstate New York may look like a cat scratched the surface of the Earth, but they formed during the last Ice Age--indicating the direction of glacial advance and retreat.

Find all OpenTopography video shorts here.

Recently released datasets available on OpenTopography:

Latest Federated Datasets:

Community Dataspace:
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Copyright © 2026 OpenTopography, All rights reserved.

OpenTopography facilitates access to high-resolution, Earth science-oriented topography data and related tools and resources. OpenTopography is funded by the US National Science Foundation under Award Numbers 2410799, 2410800 & 2410801.
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Contact us at info@opentopography.org

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