3DEP in Iowa by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $18.76 million 

Estimated total cost $18.79 million

Payback 1.0 year

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$11.96 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2015–3018 

March 2015

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for Iowa

Introduction

Elevation data are essential to a broad 

range of applications, including forest 

resources management, wildlife and habitat 

management, national security, recreation, 

and many others. For the State of Iowa, 

elevation data are critical for agriculture 

and precision farming, infrastructure 

and construction management, natural 

resources conservation, flood risk management, water supply and quality, and other 

business uses. Today, high-density light 

detection and ranging (lidar) data are the 

primary sources for deriving elevation 

models and other datasets. Federal, State, 

Tribal, and local agencies work in partnership to (1) replace data that are older and 

of lower quality and (2) provide coverage 

where publicly accessible data do not exist. 

A joint goal of State and Federal partners is 

to acquire consistent, statewide coverage to 

support existing and emerging applications 

enabled by lidar data. 

The National Enhanced Elevation 

Assessment (NEEA; Dewberry, 2011) 

evaluated multiple elevation data acquisition options to determine the optimal data 

quality and data replacement cycle relative 

to cost to meet the identified requirements 

of the user community. The evaluation 

demonstrated that lidar acquisition at quality level 2 (table 1) for the conterminous 

United States and quality level 5 interferometric synthetic aperture radar (ifsar) data 

(table 1) for Alaska with a 6- to 10-year 

acquisition cycle provided the highest 

benefit/cost ratios. The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative (Snyder, 2012a,b) 

selected an 8-year acquisition cycle for the 

respective quality levels. 3DEP, managed 

by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the 

Office of Management and Budget Circular 

A–16 lead agency for terrestrial elevation 

data, responds to the growing need for 

high-quality topographic data and a wide 

range of other 3D representations of the 

Nation’s natural and constructed features.

3D Elevation Program Benefits 

for Iowa

The top eight Iowa business uses for 

3D elevation data, which are based on the 

estimated annual conservative benefits of 

the 3DEP initiative, are shown in table 2. 

The NEEA survey respondents in the 

State of Iowa estimated that the national 

3DEP initiative would result in at least 

$18.7 million in new benefits annually to 

the State. The cost for such a program in 

Iowa is approximately $19 million, resulting in a payback period of 1.0 year and a 

benefit/cost ratio of 8.0 to 1 over an 8-year 

period. Because monetary estimates were 

not provided for all reported benefits, the 

total benefits of the 3DEP to Iowa are likely 

much higher. On the basis of the NEEA 

survey results, all levels of government and 

many organizations in Iowa could benefit 

from access to statewide high-resolution 

elevation data.

For Iowa, approximately 90 percent 

of the identified business use requirements 

will be met in agriculture and precision 

farming, infrastructure and construction 

management, and natural resources conservation uses, as shown in table 2. The 

status of publicly available lidar data in 

3D Elevation Program

3DEP is a national program managed 

by the USGS to acquire high-resolution 

elevation data. The initiative is backed by a 

comprehensive assessment of requirements 

(Dewberry, 2011) and is in the early stages 

of implementation. 3DEP will improve 

data accuracy and provide more current 

data than is available in the National 

Elevation Dataset (NED). The goal of this 

high-priority cooperative program is to 

be operational by early 2015, and to have 

complete coverage of the United States 

by the end of 2022, depending on funding 

and partnerships. 3DEP can conservatively 

provide new benefits of $1.2 billion/year 

and has the potential to generate $13 billion/year in new benefits through improved 

government services, reductions in crop 

and homeowner losses resulting from 

floods, more efficient routing of vehicles, 

and a host of other government, corporate, 

and citizen activities (Dewberry, 2011). A 

shared, common elevation dataset would 

foster cooperation and improve decisionmaking among all levels of government and 

other stakeholders.

Benefits of a Funded National Program

• Economy of scale—Acquisition of 

data covering larger areas reduces 

costs by 25 percent.

• A systematic plan—Acquisition of 

data at a higher quality level reduces 

the cost of “buying up” to the highest 

levels needed by State and local 

governments.

• Higher quality data and national 

coverage—Ensure consistency for 

applications that span State and watershed boundaries and meet more needs, 

which results in increased benefits 

to citizens.

• Increase in Federal agency contributions—Reduces State and local partner 

contributions.

• Acquisition assistance—Provided 

through readily available contracts and 

published acquisition specifications.

Figure 1. Map of Iowa showing publicly 

available lidar data. Information source is 

the United States Interagency Elevation 

Inventory, October 2014 (http://coast.noaa.

gov/inventory/?redirect=301ocm#), which 

is updated annually. No lidar data that meet 

3DEP requirements for quality level 2 or 

better are publicly available in Iowa. See 

table 1 for quality level information. 

EXPLANATION

Quality level 3

data

0 60 Kilometers

0 50 Miles
Next Steps for Implementing 3DEP

Accomplishing the 3DEP initiative’s 

goal of national coverage in 8 years depends 

on the following factors:

• Increased partnerships among Federal, 

State, Tribal, and local governments. 

• Partnerships that acquire elevation data 

to the program’s specifications across 

larger project areas.

• Increased communication about and 

awareness of the program’s benefits 

and goals.

• Support for the program from government and other stakeholders.

For Further Information:

Director

USGS National Geospatial Program

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 511

Reston, VA 20192

Email: 3DEP@usgs.gov

James Langtry

The National Map Liaison

5231 South 19th Street

Lincoln, NE 68512

Email: jlangtry@usgs.gov

http://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/

By William J. Carswell, Jr.

Iowa is shown in figure 1. By enhancing 

coordination between 3DEP and various 

government and private organizations in 

Iowa, it may be possible to realize more 

than the cited conservative benefits and 

attain the higher potential benefits for many 

business uses.

The following examples highlight 

how 3DEP data can support business uses 

in Iowa: (1) Approximately 85 percent 

of the land area of Iowa is devoted to 

agricultural uses. Enhanced elevation 

data can provide a more accurate depiction of terrain and dramatically improve 

precision farming on cropland (fig. 2), 

which helps improve crop yields, prevent 

soil degradation, and reduce agricultural 

chemical runoff—factors that help farmers 

realize a larger return on their investments. 

(2) Enhanced elevation data could enable 

State, regional, and local governments 

to more effectively implement natural 

resources conservation practices while providing additional cost savings to the public. 

If lidar data were available nationally, 

public and private organizations would 

expand their use of lidar for planning and 

site-level engineering to reduce field work 

for conservation projects such as grade 

stabilization, ponds, grassed waterways, 

terracing, and wetland restoration.

References Cited

Dewberry, 2011, Final report of the National 

Enhanced Elevation Assessment (revised 

2012): Fairfax, Va., Dewberry, 84 p. 

plus appendixes, http://www.dewberry.

com/Consultants/GeospatialMapping/

FinalReport-NationalEnhancedElevation

Assessment.

Snyder, G.I., 2012a, National Enhanced 

Elevation Assessment at a glance: U.S. 

Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2012–3088, 

2 p., http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3088/.

Snyder, G.I., 2012b, The 3D Elevation 

Program—Summary of program 

direction: U.S. Geological Survey 

Fact Sheet 2012–3089, 2 p., http://

pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3089/.

ISSN 2327-6932 (online)

http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/fs20153018

3D Elevation Program—Continued

The USGS and its partners will 

acquire quality level 2 or better (table 1) 

3D lidar data over the conterminous United 

States, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories. 

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar 

(ifsar) data are being collected at quality 

level 5 (table 1) in Alaska. The data will 

be acquired over an 8-year period and 

will be made available to the public. By 

using this acquisition scenario a number of 

high-quality elevation-data products can be 

created to serve a wide range of business 

uses in government and the private sector.

Figure 2. Enhanced elevation data aid 

precision farming, which improves crop 

yields, prevents soil degradation, and 

helps farmers realize a larger return on 

their investments. The tractor is equipped 

with a global positioning system that 

provides accurate position information; 

precision agricultural equipment helps 

determine a more accurate rate for 

applying seed and chemicals. Photograph 

courtesy of J.R. Simplot Company.

Table 2. Conservative benefits estimates for the top 8 business uses of the proposed 

3DEP data identified in the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment for Iowa

 (Dewberry, 2011).

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(millions)

1 Agriculture and precision farming $9.00

2 Infrastructure and construction management 4.11

3 Natural resources conservation 3.76

4 Flood risk management 1.07

5 Water supply and quality 0.53

6 Aviation navigation and safety 0.11

7 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation 0.10

8 Renewable energy resources 0.07

Other 0.01

Total 18.76

Table 1. Data quality levels and related 

accuracies for the 3D Elevation Program 

(3DEP) initiative are provided on page 6 in 

USGS Circular 1399 (http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/

cir1399 ). These data quality parameters for 

the 3DEP initiative approximate those used in 

the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment 

(Dewberry, 2011).

[RMSE(z), root mean square error in the z

(elevation) dimension; n/a, not applicable]

Quality 

level

Nominal pulse 

spacing

(meters)

Vertical error 

as RMSE(z)

(centimeters)

1 0.35 10

2 0.7 10

3 2.0 20

4 n/a 139

5 n/a 185