3DEP in Vermont by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $1.63 million 

Estimated total cost $3.21 million

Payback 2.0 years

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$2.04 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2015–3002 

January 2015

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for Vermont

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 Vermont, 

elevation data are critical for hazard mitigation, geologic resource assessment, natural 

resources conservation, agriculture and 

precision farming, flood risk management, 

infrastructure and construction management, 

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 Vermont

The top 10 Vermont 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 

Vermont estimated that the national 3DEP 

initiative would result in at least $1.63 million 

in new benefits annually to the State. The cost 

for such a program in Vermont is approximately $3.2 million, resulting in a payback 

period of 2.0 years and a benefit/cost ratio 

of 4.1 to 1 over an 8-year period. Because 

monetary estimates were not provided for 

all reported benefits, the total benefits of the 

3DEP to Vermont are likely much higher. 

On the basis of the NEEA survey results, all 

levels of government and many organizations 

in Vermont could benefit from access to statewide high-resolution elevation data.

For Vermont, approximately 83 percent 

of the identified business use requirements 

will be met in geologic resource assessment 

and hazard mitigation, natural resources conservation, agriculture and precision farming, 

and flood risk management uses, as shown in 

table 2. The status of publicly available lidar 

data in Vermont is shown in figure 1. 

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.

EXPLANATION

0 25 Kilometers

0 20 Miles

Quality level 2 

or better data

Quality level 3

data

No publicly available

lidar data

Figure 1. Map of Vermont 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. 
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

Lester (Lin) I. Neifert, 

 The National Map Liaison

331 Commerce Way, Suite #2, MS 510

Pembroke, CT 03275

Email: lineifert@usgs.gov

http://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/

By William J. Carswell, Jr.

By enhancing coordination between 3DEP 

and various government and private organizations in Vermont, 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 Vermont: (1) Lidar provides detailed data 

that enhances surficial geologic mapping 

used for the identification of landslides and 

assists with geologic resource assessments 

such as the identification of sand and gravel 

aquifers. As a headwater State, Vermont 

experiences landslides (fig. 2) throughout 

all its physiographic provinces. Currently 

(2015), statewide landslide data are mostly 

derived from topographic maps that have 

several limitations, including low resolution for elevation (based on contour interval) 

and age (some data are derived from maps 

that are decades old). Lidar provides a more 

current and detailed elevation dataset, thus 

allowing identification of potential landslide 

areas previously missed because of the lack 

of elevation detail. (2) Enhanced elevation 

data can enable public and private organizations to more effectively implement natural 

resources conservation practices while 

providing additional cost savings. If higher 

quality lidar data were available statewide, 

the public and private sectors could expand 

their use of lidar for planning and site-level 

engineering, which would reduce field work 

for conservation ponds, grassed waterways, 

pipelines, terracing, calculating runoff, identifying historic wetlands (drained), and wetland 

restoration. (3) For post-tropical storm Irene 

planning, lidar elevation data are critical to 

setting new baseline elevations in order to 

manage potential inundation and stream erosion areas. The data can support infrastructure 

planning and development, hazard mitigation, 

and in some cases, emergency response.

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/fs20153002

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. Landslide in glaciolacustrine 

sediments overlying glacial till on 

Great Brook in Plainfield, Vermont. 

A house and garage at the top of the 

landslide are at risk from further slope 

failure. Photograph taken July 19, 2013, 

courtesy of George Springston, Norwich 

University Department of Geology and 

Environmental Science.

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

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

 (Dewberry, 2011).

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(thousands)

1 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation $417

2 Natural resources conservation 378

3 Agriculture and precision farming 326

4 Flood risk management 236

5 Infrastructure and construction management 84

6 Forest resources management 83

7 Water supply and quality 69

8 Aviation navigation and safety 29

9 River and stream resource management 4

10 Renewable energy resources 3

Other 6

Total 1,635

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