Just found an inexpensive way of getting a contour map, thought I'd share. It uses LiDAR data, which is very accurate.



It's a 2-step process, A) Getting the LiDAR data from the USGS, B) Converting it to a Contour Map you can see on Google Earth.

A) If you go here, you can see if the gov't has LiDAR data for your place: http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
1. Type in your Zip Code in the box for "Address/Place."
The box is located in the left hand column, under "1. Enter Search Criteria"

2. Drag the marker to your farm.
3. Click the tab for "Data Sets" at the very top row.
The tab is located next to the "Search Criteria" tab.

4. Select "Digital Elevation", then select the box for "LIDAR."
5. Scroll all the way down, then click the "Results" Box.

Then select the download icon to get your LiDAR file.

B) After you have the LiDAR download, you can hire this guy (adrrian.diaconu@gmail.com), he charged me $22 for converting the data into 2 contour maps. For my place, 60 acres, I had to download 2 adjoining tiles of data, which he spliced together for me and made the contour maps to the specs I gave him.

And nope, I'm not getting a kickback, I hired him from Upwork after I got frustrated from hours of looking at Youtube videos and downloading free software. Finally gave up and the $22 was money well spent!

Hello Bryan,

Thank you very much your endorsement. Below I want to share with you and any other interested parties the following products that can be obtained based on LIDAR data.

These products can be generated also on smaller areas. For example the analysis regarding the ridge and drainage lines can be done also on a field.

Beside these product one can also generate maps that show sun radiation of field on specific days of the year or on full year and monthly intervals.

Can this be used to show underwater contours (Chesapeake Bay bottom)?

Hello Karen,

If elevation data is available for your area of interest than the answer is YES.

http://estuarinebathymetry.noaa.gov/bathy_htmls/M130.html

Here is a source of elevation data that can be used to generate underwater contours.

Awesome! Thanks Adrian.

Thanks Bryan for starting this thread and letting me and others know about this inexpensive way to get accurate contour maps and mentioning Adrian Diaconu.
Working with Adrian has been a pleasure! He has worked for the last two days guiding me and my husband on getting data for the resulting contour maps.
Of course, the USGS site came back with "no results" for LIDAR data for our back-in-the-woods 10 acres, but Adrian helped us obtain other data sets he could use. He also convinced us that Google Earth's KML/KMZ files would give us more useful data (which they did!) instead of jpg files...but he also sent the Drainage Network map and two Contour maps (1ft and 2 ft intervals) in KML/KMZ, jpg and jgw formats to make sure we could utilize the information,
When we couldn't open the first set of maps he sent; he resent them and even offered to connect via team viewer and open them for us. Wow! Like he hadn't already done enough. All this and he charged us only $22.22 USD for all the maps and all the emails he had to deal with while patiently suggesting work-a-rounds with our very basic computer skillset. Thank you, Adi!!

I'm stuck. Hit download, then choose what....LAS,LAZ or XML Metadata? Then it says "sign in with your existing USGS registered username and password". Existing? Didn't see where I could create an account. Help.

Karen,

After you Create a new account on http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ and you sign in you should see an image like the one attached.

After this you start your search and you should download LAS or LAZ data which ever is available.

https://ers.cr.usgs.gov/login/

Above you have the login / create account link

Thanks so much. Now registered and will try again.

Wow I love the Drainage and Watershed information!

I am forever fighting with the NRCS on practices because my farm lies at the top of a very big hill and converges into two watersheds. Worse yet, one watershed is low priority while the other is high. proving which fields (or parts of the field) are on what side of the dividing line typically means obtaining a grant or not! I like the return on investment of that!!

Is that your typical rate: $22 for 60 acres?

I am undecided which would be better for me however. The drainage is nice as it shows shed square footages and thus could be used to calculate culvert sizing needs and such, while the watersheds information seems complicated (maybe it is just me). However with 2 foot contours, the remaining two could be determined readily, far better then the 20 foot ones I currently have...but on a hillside with some grades approaching 12% or better? Would that be overwhelming?

Hi Travis,

It is hard to have a standard price. Because some have bigger farms and request only contours others have smaller farms and request more products (or I offer).

This is one thing another thing is what data is available.
Do your area of interest has LIDAR data?
What is the level of processing level of the LIDAR data?

Depending on these factors I can asses how much work would be needed from my side.

But to make it clear and simple the best would be if you could send me a KML file with the extents of your area of interest and what products are you looking to get. This way I will check analyze available data and make workload assessment and than I will get back to you on email with my proposal.

Example products:
- contours 2 ( foot interval) format KML or other as you wish
- digital elevation model
- aerial imagery
- drainage with streams and watersheds
- ridge lines
etc whatever else you will need and I did not thought about it.

So I wait for your email at adrrian.diaconu@gmail.com

This looks like a great offering at a very reasonable price.

One issue I'm having: I set 7 boundary markers (we have a really odd shaped property) and selected the LIDAR map option, but when it came time to download, the file was 450MB...

Upon further inspection, it seems that our property is dead-center of 2 separate scan regions and the file does not seem to omit the regions beyond our property markers. Am I doing something wrong?

Most probably your farm is at the intersection of multiple tiles of LIDAR data so that is why.

The easiest way would be if you could send me via email a KMZ/KML (Google earth file with the extents of your farm and also the products that you wish to have and I will get back to you.

Lookinf forward to hear from you!

I just wanted to give this thread a bump and say that Adrian has done an amazing job!

Absolutely worth the money both for the quality of the products and his patience (my mail server was being migrated during our initial communications which made me even less available than usual).

I put together a composite of the water and contour maps he made for our properties in the attached file.

I sent an email quite a while ago to Adrian at his gmail address but got no reply. Adrian, are you still there? I have a project in Spain, I don't know if you can get the data you need for outside the US.

I'm assuming this doesn't work for Canada since it is USGS?

Pretty handy!  Sadly, there is no lidar available for my area. Does anyone know much about the other data sets that are available? I am most interested in contours watershed and drainage type stuff.

Most "first world" countries have free elevation data (either elevation models or Lidar images) available, and in most cases contours, watersheds, drainage, etc. can be obtained, the detail depending on the spatial resolution of the specific data. If anyone is interested I can help get the data and process it. You can send an email to felipe.herrerias@gmail.com and we'll sort out the details...

+1 for Adrian's work. This information is so helpful. I can "see" A lot of things I've been observing and this will make planning my keylines and tree plantings so much easier. Thanks Adi!