Red River Basin residents can generate individual property maps with accurate 2-foot elevation contours online at www.internationalwaterinstitute.org/lidar.htm. The Web mapping service is made available through a partnership between the Tri-College University International Water Institute, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Houston Engineering Inc.

To view, create or print custom maps, click on the “RRB LiDAR Product Viewer” icon at the bottom of the Web page.

“The ability to generate maps of individual properties with accurate elevations will help landowners who are, or will soon be, fighting flood waters,” says Chuck Fritz, director of the Tri-College University International Water Institute.

The elevation data used to create the contours resulted from the Red River Basin Mapping Initiative. The initiative began in 2008 with a goal of developing a high-resolution digital elevation model for the Red River of the North Basin south of the U.S. and Canada border using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR). The $5 million project covers more than 41,000 square miles of data and includes 15 local, state and federal funding partners.

For more information, contact Fritz at 1-9747 or charles.fritz@ndsu.edu.