3DEP in Utah by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $8.70 million 

Estimated total cost $28.37 million

Payback 3.3 years

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$18.05 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2014–3115 

January 2015

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for Utah

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 Utah, elevation data are critical for infrastructure and 

construction management, natural resources 

conservation, geologic resource assessment 

and hazard mitigation, flood risk management, 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 Utah

The top 10 Utah 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 Utah estimated that the national 3DEP 

initiative would result in at least $8.7 million 

in new benefits annually to the State. The 

cost for such a program in Utah is approximately $28 million, resulting in a payback 

period of 3.3 years and a benefit/cost ratio 

of 2.5 to 1 over an 8-year period. Because 

monetary estimates were not provided for 

all reported benefits, the total benefits of the 

3DEP to Utah are likely much higher. On the 

basis of the NEEA survey results, all levels of 

government and many organizations in Utah 

could benefit from access to statewide highresolution elevation data.

For Utah, approximately 80 percent 

of the identified business use requirements 

will be met in infrastructure and construction 

management, natural resources conservation, 

and geologic resource assessment and hazard 

mitigation uses, as shown in table 2. The 

status of publicly available lidar data in Utah 

is shown in figure 1. By enhancing coordination between 3DEP and various government 

and private organizations in Utah, it may be 

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 Utah 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

Quality level 4 or

 lower 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

David M. Vincent, 

 The National Map Liaison

2222 West 2300 South, 2nd floor

Salt Lake City, UT 84119

Email: dmvincent@usgs.gov

http://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/

By William J. Carswell, Jr.

possible to realize more than the cited conservative benefits and attain the higher potential 

benefits for many business uses.

A lidar-applications video (http://vimeo.

com/89565010) and the following examples 

highlight how 3DEP data can support business uses in Utah: (1) When lidar data are 

readily available, the need for traditional 

topographic land surveys is minimized. 

Reducing the time required for project planning provides a cost savings to the public. 

Enhanced lidar elevation data support the 

creation of lidar-based derivative products 

such as bare-earth digital elevation models, 

footprints for buildings, and potential savings from solar energy technologies—these 

products provide a level of detail that aids 

in the evaluation of numerous sites and supports decisionmaking. Derivative products 

also provide input for hydraulic modeling 

to reduce flooding, and the integration of 

data (geologic, engineering, environmental) 

expedites project reviews and reduces cost. 

(2) Geologic maps produced by the Utah 

Geological Survey (UGS) are the foundation tool for nearly all geology-related 

activities, including site investigations for 

schools, roads, housing developments, 

natural resources (such as mineral, oil, and 

gas extraction), and most other new projects. 

High-resolution elevation coverage improves 

the mapping of surficial geologic features 

and poorly exposed bedrock features. This 

improves the mapping of faults, landslide 

boundaries, and other features (fig. 2), especially in highly vegetated areas. The availability of statewide high-resolution elevation 

data will allow the UGS to provide improved 

accuracy and detail in geologic and related 

maps and data that users need.

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/fs20143115

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. Geologic faults can be more 

readily identified using lidar-derived 

products, as shown in this shaded relief 

graphic depicting a section of the Wasatch 

Front, north-central Utah. Black lines 

show fault traces (black ball and bar on 

downthrown block). Modified from image 

provided by Utah 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 Utah

 (Dewberry, 2011).

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(millions)

1 Infrastructure and construction management $4.42

2 Natural resources conservation 1.88

3 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation 0.68

4 Flood risk management 0.67

5 Agriculture and precision farming 0.53

6 Forest resources management 0.27

7 Renewable energy resources 0.07

8 Aviation navigation and safety 0.06

9 River and stream resource management 0.05

10 Water supply and quality 0.05

Other 0.02

Total 8.70

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

0 2,000 Feet

0 500 Meters

N