LiDAR guide · an IPR project
Portugal's LiDAR, explained.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, mainland Portugal was surveyed with airborne LiDAR. The result is the most detailed picture of the country's relief ever made: a terrain model with 50 cm pixels, open to everyone.
This guide explains what is in the data, where to find it in the Data Centre of the Direção-Geral do Território (DGT, Portugal's national mapping agency) and how to put it to work in QGIS. It is independent: this is not a DGT website.
In figures
| Acquisition | April 2024 to March 2025 |
|---|---|
| Average density | 10 points per m² |
| Accuracy | 10 cm vertical, 30 cm horizontal |
| Terrain models (DTM) | 50 cm and 2 m, GeoTIFF |
| Surface models (DSM) | 50 cm and 2 m, GeoTIFF |
| Point cloud | LAZ (LAS 1.4), 1 km × 1 km tiles |
| Reference system | ETRS89 / PT-TM06 (EPSG:3763), heights on the Cascais vertical datum |
| Available | About 90% of the territory; the north-west still in production |
| Use | Open data, free of charge. DGT states a CC BY 4.0 licence: credit the source. |
What changes
Until now, the national model in common use had a 10 m resolution: one cell per 100 m². The 50 cm DTM has 400 cells in the same space. Ditches, terraces, tracks, banks and small watercourses that used to vanish are now visible. For anyone planning water, access, planting or construction, it is the difference between guessing the ground and measuring it.
Where to start
- DownloadWhere DGT's data is and what to choose.
- Use in QGISContours, slope, hillshade and watercourses.
- Coverage and limitsWhat the data shows well and where to take care.
- FAQShort answers to the most common questions.
- Skip the processingYour land already processed, ready for QGIS and QField.
- LiDAR and surveyingWhen it is enough and when you need a surveyor.
- GlossaryDTM, DSM, LAZ, contour lines and the rest.