LIDAR

LIDAR (light detection and ranging) seems to be the up and coming thing and I am sure this particular image has been used extensively. Most people should recognize the haunting illustration of Ground Zero taken in September 2001. This was a direct result of the terrorist attacks that reduced the World Trade Center to 16 acres of rubble. LIDAR is a remote sensing system using laser, instead of radio or microwave radiation, to collect topographic data. With LIDAR, scientists collect elevation figures and create false color images (not photographs) for visualizing information. Each image pixel represents a data (x,y,z) point that is colored according to its value. The points allow generation of a digital elevation model (DEM) of the ground surface and construction of a complete image.

Link to website source:
http://imaging.geocomm.com/gallery/