One of the advantages of LIDAR topography data is the ability to “see through” vegetation so to speak. The light beams aren’t actually seeing through physical objects, but because of the high density of LIDAR pixels, some of the beams in a vegetated area see through the canopy to the ground surface. The vegetation can then be screened out of the data using post-processing. This kind of “bare earth” imagery was recently used by archaeologists in New England to locate “lost” settlements that dated back to the 18th century. [Source: Read more about this discovery and application of LIDAR imagery at National Geographic via ASCE SmartBrief. Image: National Geographic]
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Devil’s Slide Tunnel, Project Updates and Geotechnical Info
Devil’s Slide is an infamous landslide along California’s Highway 1 or Pacific Coast Highway near Pacifica, just south of the San Francisco Bay area. Caltrans’ Devil’s Slide Tunnel project is an effort to bypass that slide and make the heavily traveled roadway safe for drivers and to eliminate the maintenance and traffic hassles caused by slope failures blocking the road. We first covered the project back in September of 2007 when the tunnel portion of the project commenced. In that post, you can find a Google Earth KML File showing the location of the tunnels and the new bridges associated with the project. In this post, I’ll provide you with some updated progress information as well as some background on the geotechnical and other aspects of the project. More links and videos are at the end of the post. (Photo by Kim Komenich, San Francisco Chronicle). […]