NoCal GeoES: Why ESRI Grids?

Originally posted by mccalpin in the old GLW forum - re-posting it here so that it is not lost - cc
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Some of us use GIS systems other than ESRI's, so we cannot import LIDAR data if it is only provided in the ESRI grid format. Why don't you additionally make the data available in some non-proprietary data format, so that non-ESRI customers can import it?----Jim McCalpin

re-post of answer to above. -cc

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Good question Jim.

NCALM, who acquired the NoCal LiDAR, delivered the ESRI binary grids to us - apparently this is the format that they typically use to deliver their pre-computed DEMs to users. Given that we were under a short deadline to make these data available to the community, we did not have time to convert the data into a more generic format (such as an ascii grid). Hopefully, later releases will include the data in more generic format.

We are actively working to make the first round of NoCal point cloud data available via the GEON LiDAR Workflow and hope to have these data online in the very near future. Once the point data are online, users will be able to compute their own DEMs and output them in formats such as ascii grid.

Which GIS software package are you currently using? Although primarily an ESRI user myself, it has been my experience that many (most?) GIS software packages support the import of ESRI binary grids. If yours does not, you may consider using GDAL (http://www.gdal.org/) to convert the grids into a format that your software will read.

Please let us know if you have questions or comments. Thanks,

-cc