3DEP in Wyoming by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $6.19 million 

Estimated total cost $32.66 million

Payback 5.3 years

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$20.78 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2014–3108, ver. 1.1

January 2015

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for Wyoming

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 Wyoming, elevation data are critical for geologic 

resource assessment and hazard mitigation, 

flood risk management, water supply and 

quality, natural resources conservation, agriculture and precision farming, 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 highquality topographic data and a wide range 

of other 3D representations of the Nation’s 

natural and constructed features.

3D Elevation Program Benefits 

for Wyoming

The top 10 Wyoming 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 

Wyoming estimated that the national 3DEP 

initiative would result in at least $6.2 million 

in new benefits annually to the State. The cost 

for such a program in Wyoming is approximately $32 million, resulting in a payback 

period of 5.3 years and a benefit/cost ratio 

of 1.5 to 1 over an 8-year period. Because 

monetary estimates were not provided for 

all reported benefits, the total benefits of the 

3DEP to Wyoming are likely much higher. 

On the basis of the NEEA survey results, all 

levels of government and many organizations 

in Wyoming could benefit from access to 

statewide high-resolution elevation data.

For Wyoming, approximately 72 percent 

of the identified business use requirements 

will be met in natural resources conservation, agriculture and precision farming, and 

infrastructure and construction management uses, as shown in table 2. The status of 

publicly available lidar data in Wyoming is 

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 Wyoming showing the 

extent of existing and planned 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. Quality level 2 or better 

data meet 3DEP requirements. See table 1 

for quality level information. 

EXPLANATION

Quality level 2 or

better data

Quality level 3 data

No publicly available

lidar 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

Lance S. Clampitt, 

 The National Map Liaison

2327 University Way, Suite 2

Bozeman, MT 59715

Email: lsclampitt@usgs.gov

http://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/

By William J. Carswell, Jr.

shown in figure 1. By enhancing coordination 

between 3DEP and various government and 

private organizations and engineering firms 

in Wyoming, 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 

Wyoming: (1) Digital terrain models derived 

from high-resolution lidar data can be used 

to identify geologic features such as faults 

and landslide-prone areas. New or reactivated 

landslides can cause significant damage 

depending on where they occur. A landslide 

in the spring of 2014 in Jackson, Wyoming, 

near the intersection of Broadway Avenue 

and Budge Drive caused significant damage 

to some of the residences and retaining walls, 

pavement, and curbs, which were cracked and 

displaced (fig. 2). The cost of remediation following the landslide, located at the foot of the 

south-facing slope of East Gros Ventre Butte, 

is approximately $7.5 million. (2) From 

1905 to 2010, Wyoming flood losses (http://

wyohomelandsecurity.state.wy.us/mitigation_plan.aspx) averaged $3.7 million per 

year in 2010 dollars. Lidar data provide highquality terrain information as input for more 

accurate and less expensive hydrologic and 

hydraulic modeling for flood studies; design 

of structures such as bridges and culverts to 

accommodate runoff and flooding from large 

rain events; retention dam design, dam breach 

studies, and stormwater management and 

engineering. Lidar data also aid the identification of vulnerable properties within a flood 

plain, facilitating better flood plain management decisions and education of the public on 

true flood risks.

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/fs20143108

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. A view of a residence and the 

formation of the head scarp of the Budge 

Drive landslide. The house straddles the 

head scarp, causing part of the house to 

shear off and partially collapse within the 

slump blocks (main body) of the landslide. 

Photograph taken May 29, 2014, courtesy of 

the Wyoming State Geological Survey.

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

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

(Dewberry, 2011). Recent information from State officials that was not reported for 

the NEEA report suggests that annual benefits for geologic resource assessment and 

hazard mitigation and flood risk management business uses may be underestimated.

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(millions)

1 Natural resources conservation $2.63

2 Agriculture and precision farming 0.99

3 Infrastructure and construction management 0.82

4 Water supply and quality 0.57

5 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation 0.40

6 Flood risk management 0.30

7 Forest resources management 0.20

8 Renewable energy resources 0.10

9 Aviation navigation and safety 0.09

10 River and stream resource management 0.05

Other 0.04

Total 6.19

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