Most Australian projects don't realise their question can be answered from a free public dataset that already exists. This is the honest version of when ELVIS is enough, when it isn't, and how to combine public data with targeted commissioned capture instead of paying for the whole thing.
If you're scoping a LiDAR project and haven't checked ELVIS yet, you're potentially about to pay for data you can download for free. The dataset is genuinely good, it covers most of populated Australia, and for a non-trivial fraction of project questions it's the right answer all by itself.
We open every scoping conversation by checking ELVIS for the project area, and we recommend buyers do the same. This article is the working guide — what ELVIS is, when it's enough, when it isn't, and how the hybrid pattern (public baseline + targeted new capture) often delivers more for less than either option alone.
ELVIS — Elevation and Depth Foundation Spatial Data is the national catalogue of publicly-available elevation data hosted by Geoscience Australia. It aggregates LiDAR, photogrammetry and bathymetric captures contributed by:
The catalogue lives at elevation.fsdf.org.au with a map-based discovery interface — pan to your project area, see what captures are available, and download what's relevant. No login required for most layers; some restricted-licence captures need sign-in.
The data is genuinely substantial. As of 2026:
The catalogue is updated continuously as new captures are contributed. Worth re-checking even if you reviewed ELVIS six months ago for the same area.
Five project shapes where ELVIS is genuinely enough on its own:
Site shortlisting, initial feasibility studies, planning concept work — none of these need centimetre accuracy or current vintage. ELVIS at 1 m resolution gives you topography, slope, drainage context and aspect across the entire project area for free.
Spending $15,000 to commission a capture for a feasibility study that may not proceed past concept is the kind of decision that makes finance teams suspicious. Spending zero dollars to download ELVIS and run the same analysis is the kind of decision that doesn't.
Your project area is 10 hectares. The drainage catchment that feeds it is 200 hectares of surrounding land you have no intention of commissioning. ELVIS covers the catchment; you can run the hydrology against the catchment-scale ELVIS DTM and only commission new capture for the project area itself if necessary.
This is the most common hybrid pattern we recommend — commission new capture only for the area where current, high-accuracy data materially changes the answer, and lean on ELVIS for everything else.
Related to #2. Flood and stormwater work needs DTM coverage of the entire contributing catchment, which is almost always larger than the project itself. ELVIS provides the catchment- scale DTM; if hydro-enforcement at structures is needed, those features can be surveyed or commissioned independently.
Stakeholder briefings, planning submissions, marketing renders, context views in design packages — all are well-served by an ELVIS DSM at 1 m. Council submissions in most Australian jurisdictions accept ELVIS for context.
When we deliver a commissioned capture, we often include an ELVIS comparison as part of the QA pack — the commissioned DTM minus the ELVIS DTM gives a change map between vintages, useful both for validating the new capture's tie to AHD and for documenting genuine change since the last capture.
Five patterns where ELVIS will let you down:
Many ELVIS captures are five to ten years old. If the project area has been developed, cleared, regraded or otherwise changed significantly since capture, the ELVIS DTM no longer represents current ground. Re-fly.
ELVIS captures vary in stated accuracy — typically ±150–300 mm vertical RMSE, occasionally tighter on premium captures. For engineering-grade work (±20 mm class), ELVIS doesn't reach the required band. Commission new capture.
Even if the underlying terrain hasn't changed, vegetation has — canopy heights, clearing extent, regrowth, harvest. ELVIS canopy data ages quickly; engineering-relevant vegetation work usually needs current capture.
New buildings, new infrastructure, new earthworks — anything placed after the ELVIS capture is missing from the ELVIS surface. For projects centred on new features, commissioning is the only honest answer.
ELVIS rasters are typically 1 m grid. Engineering work — corridor design at chainage intervals tighter than 1 m, asset inspection, high-density classification — needs denser source data than ELVIS provides. The point density (where LAS is available) is typically 4–20 pt/m² for ELVIS, vs 100–500+ pt/m² for commissioned engineering captures.
The discovery flow is straightforward:
A few practical notes:
The most common project shape we work on now is hybrid:
The commissioned capture is typically 10–40% of the area you'd have commissioned without ELVIS underneath — saving the proportional cost. The combined deliverable is more useful than either alone because it carries both engineering-grade accuracy where needed AND regional context where useful.
The pure numbers:
Hybrid pattern: ELVIS + a commissioned capture of the engineering focus area can land 30–60% below commissioning the full extent.
If your project answer can come from ELVIS, the cost difference is the entire commissioning budget. Worth checking.
Honest scenarios where we routinely recommend buyers not commission us (or anyone):
Each of these scenarios has buyers who commission new captures because nobody told them ELVIS existed. Our scoping process always checks first. Worth doing the check yourself before requesting quotes.
A few things we hear that aren't quite right:
"ELVIS is too old to be useful." Some captures are old. Many are recent. The discovery interface shows vintage per layer — check before assuming.
"ELVIS isn't accurate enough for anything serious." Accuracy varies by capture. Some metro captures are at ±150 mm vertical, which is fine for planning, drainage modelling and feasibility. Engineering-grade is a higher bar; planning and feasibility are often well-served.
"Commissioning gives me ownership; ELVIS doesn't." Most ELVIS data is under Creative Commons or equivalent open licences — you can use it commercially, modify it, integrate it with proprietary data. Read the per-capture terms; they're usually liberal.
"ELVIS only has raster, not point cloud." The catalogue includes both. LAS point cloud is available for most captures where the contributor released the raw cloud.
ELVIS exists, it's free, and for a meaningful fraction of Australian project questions it's the right answer. The honest recommendation: check ELVIS first. Commission where ELVIS isn't enough — engineering accuracy, current vintage, new features, higher density. Use the hybrid pattern (public baseline + targeted commissioned capture) to land more for less than either option alone.
If a provider quotes you for a full-extent capture without first mentioning ELVIS, they're either unaware of it (concerning) or not interested in the smaller-scope work that ELVIS opens up (also concerning). Worth raising at the scoping call.
Send the project boundary and the question you're trying to answer. We'll check ELVIS for you and tell you honestly whether you need to commission anything — or not.