3DEP in Mississippi by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $10.41 million 

Estimated total cost $15.95 million

Payback 1.5 years

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$10.15 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2014–3057

August 2014

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for Mississippi

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 Mississippi, 

elevation data are critical for infrastructure 

and construction management, flood risk 

management, agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, forest 

resources management, water supply and 

quality, and other business uses. Today, highdensity 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 Mississippi

The top 10 Mississippi 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 

Mississippi estimated that the national 3DEP 

initiative would result in at least $10.4 million 

in new benefits annually to the State. The cost 

for such a program in Mississippi is approximately $16 million, resulting in a payback 

period of 1.5 years and a benefit/cost ratio 

of 5.2 to 1 over an 8-year period. Because 

monetary estimates were not provided for 

all reported benefits, the total benefits of the 

3DEP to Mississippi are likely much higher. 

On the basis of the NEEA survey results, all 

levels of government and many organizations 

in Mississippi could benefit from access to 

statewide high-resolution elevation data.

For Mississippi, approximately 

91 percent of the identified business use 

requirements will be met in infrastructure 

and construction management, flood risk 

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 January 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.

EXPLANATION

Quality level 2

or better data

Quality level 3

data

Quality level 4

or lower data

No publicly available

lidar data

0 50 Kilometers

0 40 Miles

Figure 1. Map of Mississippi showing 

the extent of existing and planned publicly 

available lidar data. Information source: 

United States Interagency Elevation 

Inventory, June 2014, updated annually. 

Quality level 2 or better data meet 3DEP 

requirements. See table 1 for quality 

level information. 
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

George F. Heleine, 

 USGS Geospatial Liaison

308 S. Airport Rd.

Jackson, MS 39208

Email: gheleine@usgs.gov

http://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/

By William J. Carswell, Jr.

management, agriculture and precision farming, and natural resources conservation uses, 

as shown in table 2. The status of publicly 

available lidar data in Mississippi is shown in 

figure 1. By enhancing coordination between 

3DEP and various government and private 

organizations in Mississippi, 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 Mississippi: (1) A statewide lidar dataset 

would improve the evaluation of existing 

roadway conditions and reduce onsite evaluation visits, help identify the need for safety 

projects, provide more detailed environmental 

information over large areas for all projects, 

and help with the evaluation of how proposed 

construction would affect habitats. (2) The 

availability of more accurate statewide elevation data would reduce onsite data-collection 

costs and the amount of time required to 

complete some phases of flood risk projects 

(fig. 2). The quality of analyses and study 

results would be improved as a result of the 

more accurate elevation data. Overall, the 

project completion time and cost would be 

reduced and the savings could be applied to 

other priority flood risk projects.

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-Nation

alEnhancedElevationAssessment.

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/fs20143057

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. The Mississippi Department of 

Environmental Quality, Dam Safety Division 

(MDEQ, DSD), uses lidar data to develop 

cross sections (indicated by red lines) and 

to delineate inundation areas (border shown 

by thin red line) for dam breach models, and 

to perform dam hazard assessments. When 

developing dam breach models, using lidar 

data reduces the need for the time-consuming 

collection of field data. Elevations are color 

coded from high to low (red, yellow, green, 

light green). The blue line is the flow of the 

river downstream of the dam. Image created 

by Natalie Sigsby Rogers (MDEQ, DSD) from 

Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ, TomTom, and used 

with permission. 

Dam

Table 2. Conservative benefits estimates for the top 10 business uses of the 

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

Mississippi (Dewberry, 2011).

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(millions)

1 Infrastructure and construction management $3.67

2 Flood risk management 2.06

3 Agriculture and precision farming 1.99

4 Natural resources conservation 1.80

5 Forest resources management 0.33

6 Water supply and quality 0.22

7 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation 0.09

8 Aviation navigation and safety 0.08

9 Coastal zone management 0.05

10 Sea level rise and subsidence 0.04

Other 0.08

Total 10.41

Table 1. Data quality levels and related 

accuracies for the 3D Elevation Program 

(3DEP) initiative. 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