LIDAR
Digital Surface Model from the lidar point cloud. Gradient colors represent elevation. Hill Shade added to accentuate features.
Digital Elevation Model - vegetation removed to reveal infrastructure features more visible on the landscape. This is a TIN mesh model with hill shade added to accentuate features.
Digital Surface Model from the lidar point cloud. Gradient colors represent elevation. Hill Shade added to accentuate features.
LIDAR is an active remote sensing technique
which can better detect and separate materials from the ground surface. Vegetation and other features can be segmented and removed from the view.
The animated scenes above are derived from the same LIDAR scan. The detailed point cloud on the left shows details of trees, bushes and ground cover. The cleared surface on the right reveals ancient structures, kiva depressions, prehistoric roads, and modern roads more distinctly. The larger round great Kiva depression is a good example. Structural room blocks appear along the higher ridge. These were altered and damaged severely by modern excavating equipment (pot hunting). Ground truthing and expert evaluations remains important to understand this site.
A modern viewer at ground level will struggle to detect most of the ancient road segments; they remain obscured by sage brush and are nearly impossible to discern without an elevated perspective.