Kyfromabove 2025 lidar acquisitionperiod of performance: 09 08 2025 through 08 31 2028ABSTRACT summary: kentucky completed its second statewide lidar coverage in 2024 of baseline USGS quality level…

The Commonwealth Office of Technology was awarded $828,940 on September 8, 2025, under the National Geospatial Program: Building The National Map (CFDA 15.817) cooperative agreement from the U.S. Geological Survey's Office of Acquisitions and Grants. The project will acquire Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) elevation data at USGS Quality Level 2 or better across 15 priority counties in Kentucky (two in the Purchase Area, six in central Kentucky, and seven in northeastern Kentucky along the Ohio River) over the three-year performance period through August 31, 2028. The initiative represents a collaborative effort in which the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) contributes an additional $200,000 through an interagency agreement to replace 2019-vintage data, with USGS Broad Agency Announcement funding supporting contiguous counties to ensure comprehensive coverage across east-central Kentucky.

The deliverables will consist of classified point cloud LiDAR data and supporting geospatial products that will be shared across state government and the public domain. Kentucky state agencies will utilize the data for multiple critical applications, including floodplain delineation and inundation studies by the Division of Water, agricultural land assessment and drainage design by NRCS, transportation project planning and design by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and infrastructure development, habitat modeling, archeological investigations, and water and wastewater planning by other state entities.

Intended beneficiaries

All collected data will be shared across state government and in the public domain.