3DEP in Ohio by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $8.28 million 

Estimated total cost $13.78 million

Payback 1.7 years

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$8.77 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2014–3111, ver. 1.1

June 2015

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for Ohio

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 Ohio, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, 

flood risk management, infrastructure and 

construction 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 highquality topographic data and a wide range 

of other 3D representations of the Nation’s 

natural and constructed features.

3D Elevation Program Benefits 

for Ohio

The top 10 Ohio 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 Ohio estimated that the national 3DEP 

initiative would result in at least $8.2 million 

in new benefits annually to the State. The 

cost for such a program in Ohio is approximately $13.8 million, resulting in a payback 

period of 1.7 years and a benefit/cost ratio 

of 4.8 to 1 over an 8-year period. Because 

monetary estimates were not provided for 

all reported benefits, the total benefits of the 

3DEP to Ohio are likely much higher. On the 

basis of the NEEA survey results, all levels 

of government and many organizations in 

Ohio could benefit from access to statewide 

high-resolution elevation data.

For Ohio, approximately 88 percent of 

the identified business use requirements will 

be met in agriculture and precision farming, 

natural resources conservation, and flood risk 

management, as shown in table 2. The status 

of publicly available lidar data in Ohio 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 highpriority cooperative program is 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 Ohio 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#). 

The inventory is updated annually. No 

lidar data that meet 3DEP requirements 

for quality level 2 or better are publicly 

available in Ohio. See table 1 for quality 

level information. 

EXPLANATION

Quality level 3 data

0 40 Kilometers 

0 20 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:

Michael A. Tischler, Director

USGS National Geospatial Program

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 511

Reston, VA 20192

Email: 3DEP@usgs.gov

Charles E. Hickman 

The National Map Liaison

6480 Doubletree Avenue

Columbus, Ohio 43229

Email: chickman@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 in Ohio, 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 Ohio: 

(1) The Ohio Geographically Referenced 

Information Program (http://ogrip.oit.ohio.

gov) provides access to digital geographic 

data statewide and is well positioned to 

support 3DEP. Among the many benefits 

of lidar-derived elevation data collected by 

3DEP, key stakeholders in Ohio have recently 

emphasized solar potential mapping (fig. 2), 

siting of oil and gas wellhead pads for horizontal drilling, impervious surface modeling, 

archaeological site surveys, shoreline erosion, 

roadway slope and curve analysis supporting 

traffic safety, and economic development. 

Many programs at the Ohio Department of 

Natural Resources (ODNR) use lidar data, 

including the Office of Coastal Management 

for shoreline recession and coastal erosion 

mapping. (2) The ODNR Ohio Geological 

Survey uses lidar for karst mapping; the Division of Mineral Resources Abandoned Mine 

Land Reclamation Programs use lidar for 

identifying areas of subsidence and potential 

sinkholes. Dense vegetation and woodland 

can obscure potential hazardous areas. Lidar 

digital terrain (bare earth) models can be used 

to locate and assess abandoned mine lands, 

active landslides and preexisting landslides 

that are susceptible to reactivation, and to 

detect sinkhole features that are too small or 

too new to have been identified in previous 

elevation programs. The lidar-derived models 

support public and environmental safety 

programs and the site-selection process for 

industry and commerce.

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/fs20143111

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. Example of a solar potential 

mapping application using Ohio Statewide 

Imagery Program lidar and imagery. Lidar 

is being used to identify the optimal siting 

of photovoltaic solar panels. Courtesy 

of Ohio Department of Administrative 

Services—Ohio Geographically Referenced 

Information Program.

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

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

 (Dewberry, 2011).

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(millions)

1 Agriculture and precision farming $3.48

2 Natural resources conservation 1.90

3 Flood risk management 1.88

4 Infrastructure and construction management 0.31

5 Water supply and quality 0.15

6 Coastal zone management 0.15

7 Aviation navigation and safety 0.15

8 Forest resources management 0.12

9 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation 0.08

10 Renewable energy resources 0.04

Other 0.02

Total 8.28

Table 1. Data quality levels and related 

accuracies for the 3D Elevation Program 

(3DEP) initiative as 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 1.4 20

4 n/a 139

5 n/a 185