66 RoadiesFor Route 66 roadies

LiDAR terrain viewer

See the ground, not just the coverage box.

The same live map now carries the real Painted Desert image overlays and the Missouri / I-44 Route 66 LiDAR planning corridor from St. Louis through Joplin to Miami, Oklahoma.

Open live terrain map Zoom Missouri corridor Zoom Painted Desert Open orange relief PNG Open gray hillshade PNG

Transparent overlays

Painted Desert images + Missouri corridor on one map.

Loading LiDAR image overlays...

Route 66 LiDAR viewer

Toggle the rendered terrain and the Missouri corridor together.

Layer controls now include the Missouri/I-44 corridor spine and smooth 10-mile buffer on the same map as the Painted Desert hillshade and relief overlays.

Loading LiDAR terrain Preparing orange relief and gray hillshade overlays.

Direct image previews

Show people the terrain immediately.

These previews are fast static PNGs. They are better for public viewing than asking casual visitors to understand LAZ, COPC, EPT, or a point-cloud viewer on the first visit.

Orange color relief LiDAR terrain overlay for the Painted Desert west Route 66 corridor
West corridor color reliefOrange terrain image, broad Route 66 corridor.
 Gray hillshade LiDAR terrain overlay for the Painted Desert west Route 66 corridor
West corridor hillshadeGray shaded terrain from ground-class points.
 Orange color relief LiDAR terrain close-up around the Painted Desert Trading Post
Trading Post color reliefOne-mile close-up, higher detail.
 Gray hillshade LiDAR terrain close-up around the Painted Desert Trading Post
Trading Post hillshadeGray shaded ground close-up.

Missouri + I-44 LiDAR corridor

St. Louis to Joplin to Miami, Oklahoma.

The live map above now includes this 331.9-mile Route 66 / I-44 planning corridor with 35 ten-mile station boxes and a smooth 10-mile LiDAR buffer. Terrain PNGs like Painted Desert are the next render step.

STL

St. Louis start

Anchor box covers the St. Louis / Chain of Rocks / I-44 entry zone and returned TNM LiDAR product metadata.

MO

Ozarks + Shamrock

The slice includes the Shamrock/Missouri Ozarks research area so old-road LiDAR can connect back to the larger corridor.

OK

Joplin to Miami

The western end reaches Miami, Oklahoma, so the Missouri work does not stop short at the state line.

Zoom Missouri on live map Open corridor station JSON Open smooth buffer GeoJSON View map layer

Chicago to LA tile pipeline

One map, many loaded-on-demand LiDAR tiles.

Loading Route 66 LiDAR tile lanes...

Open national tile pipeline JSON Open 10-mile station manifest Open smooth corridor GeoJSON

Terrain source stack

Render once, view fast.

For public pages, the better product is not a raw point-cloud download. It is a rendered terrain stack: hillshade, color relief, aerial context, route line, and source notes, all transparent on a normal map.

3DEP

Best terrain base

USGS 3DEP is the first-choice public LiDAR source for bare-earth terrain, hillshade, slope, and proof-area rendering.

IMG

Aerial context

Use public/approved aerial imagery such as USGS and NAIP-style coverage for current ground context when rights allow display.

TILE

Fast public display

Render heavy LiDAR once into PNG or future map tiles, then let visitors slide opacity instead of loading raw point clouds.