Adoption of the "ASPRS LiDAR Guidelines - Vertical Accuracy Reporting for LiDAR Data V1.0" was approved by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Board of Directors in May 2004. This is the first in a series of guidelines to be published by ASPRS covering the emerging technology of LiDAR and its use in the mapping sciences. Created by the ASPRS LiDAR Committee's Working Group on LiDAR guidelines and standards, the guidelines have undergone a public review process and represent the best practices and reporting methods endorsed by ASPRS when working with LiDAR-derived elevation data.

ASPRS recommends that all mapping professionals adhere to and follow these guidelines when generating or contracting for mapping products derived from LiDAR data. As part of the LiDAR Committee's Working Group efforts, the ASPRS guidelines were harmonized with the relevant sections of the Guidelines for Digital Elevation Data (Version 1.0) released by the National Digital Elevation Program (NDEP).