3DEP in Kentucky by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $5.69 million 

Estimated total cost $13.51 million

Payback 2.4 years

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$8.60 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2014–3012

March 2014

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for Kentucky

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 Commonwealth 

of Kentucky, elevation data are critical for 

agriculture and precision farming, natural 

resources conservation, flood risk management, infrastructure and construction 

management, forest resources management, geologic resource assessment and 

hazards mitigation, 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. “Kentucky from Above,” the 

Kentucky Aerial Photography and Elevation Data Program (http://kygeonet.ky.gov/

kyfromabove/), provides statewide lidar 

coordination with local, Commonwealth, 

and national groups in support of 3DEP for 

the Commonwealth.

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 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 Kentucky

The top 10 Kentucky 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 Commonwealth of Kentucky estimated that the 

national 3DEP initiative would result in at 

least $5.69 million in new benefits annually 

to the Commonwealth. The cost for such 

a program in Kentucky is approximately 

$14 million, resulting in a payback period 

of 2.4 years and a benefit/cost ratio of 3.4 to 

1 over an 8-year period. Because monetary 

estimates were not provided for all reported 

benefits, the total benefits of the 3DEP to 

Kentucky are likely much higher. The status 

of publicly available lidar data in Kentucky 

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

and private organizations in Kentucky, it may 

be possible to realize more than the cited 

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

No publicly available

lidar data 0 70 Kilometers

0 50 Miles

Figure 1. Map of Kentucky showing the 

extent of existing and planned publicly 

available lidar data. Information source: 

United States Interagency Elevation 

Inventory, August 2013, 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:

Mark DeMulder, Director, 

USGS National Geospatial Program

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 511

Reston, VA 20192

Email: mdemulder@usgs.gov

Charles E. Hickman, 

 USGS Geospatial Liaison

6480 Doubletree Avenue

Columbus, Ohio 43229

Email: chickman@usgs.gov

http://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/

By William J. Carswell, Jr.

conservative benefits and attain the higher 

potential benefits for many business uses.

The following examples demonstrate 

how 3DEP lidar data can support business 

uses in Kentucky: (1) One of the most important beneficial uses in Kentucky is floodplain delineation for the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency Risk Map Program. The 

negative impact from flooding in Kentucky 

has been significant over the years. Enhanced 

elevation data acquired through 3DEP will 

help to protect properties and lives and possibly lower flood insurance rates across the 

Commonwealth as county-based risk map 

plans are completed. (2) Use of high-quality 

data by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet 

is beginning to realize tremendous savings 

as it relates to Phase I and Phase II engineering studies for highway projects. The design 

timeframe is being compressed, and the 

amount of necessary fieldwork (including 

the identification of previously unknown prehistoric and historic earthworks and mounds 

(fig. 2) and other cultural and sensitive sites) 

has diminished, saving time and resources. 

(3) Kentucky is one of the leading States in 

landslide occurrences and also has significant 

risks related to sinkholes. Lidar is being used 

to locate and assess 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. These lidar-derived data 

support 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/fs20143012

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. Located in a western Kentucky 

cypress swamp, the Adams archeological site 

(15Fu4) was first documented in the 1880s. 

This Mississippian mound site was excavated 

and mapped in the 1980s. Examination of a 

recent lidar-derived digital elevation model 

provides a more accurate map of the site and 

its surroundings, with indications of additional 

undocumented mounds. Courtesy of Kentucky 

Transportation Cabinet.

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

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

Kentucky (Dewberry, 2011).

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(millions)

1 Agriculture and precision farming $1.73

2 Natural resources conservation 1.54

3 Flood risk management 1.33

4 Infrastructure and construction management 0.62

5 Forest resources management 0.20

6 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation 0.14

7 Aviation navigation and safety 0.07

8 Renewable energy resources 0.03

9 River and stream resource management 0.01

10 Coastal zone management 0.01

Other 0.01

Total 5.69

Table 1. Data quality levels used in the 

National Enhanced Elevation Assessment 

(Dewberry, 2011).

[≤, less than or equal to]

Quality 

level

Nominal pulse 

spacing

(meters)

Vertical 

accuracy 

(centimeters)

1 0.35 9.25

2 0.7 9.25

3 1–2 ≤18.5

4 5 46–139

5 5 93–185