3DEP in North Carolina by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $69.18 million 

Estimated total cost $16.51 million

Payback 0.2 year

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$10.51 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2014–3066

July 2014

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for North Carolina

Introduction

Elevation data are essential to a 

broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and 

habitat management, national security, and 

recreation. For the State of North Carolina, 

elevation data are critical for flood risk 

management, natural resources conservation, 

agriculture and precision farming, infrastructure and construction management, forest 

resources 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 North Carolina

The top 10 North Carolina 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, consisting of 

Federal, State, selected local and Tribal governments, and private and nongovernmental 

users in the State of North Carolina, estimated 

that the national 3DEP initiative would result 

in at least $69.1 million in new benefits 

annually to the State. The cost for such a 

program in North Carolina is approximately 

$16.5 million, resulting in a payback period 

of 0.2 year and a benefit/cost ratio of 33.5 to 

1 over an 8-year period. Because monetary 

estimates were not provided for all reported 

benefits, the total benefits of the 3DEP to 

North Carolina are likely much higher. On the 

basis of the NEEA survey results, all levels 

of government and many organizations in 

North Carolina could benefit from access to 

statewide high-resolution elevation data.

For North Carolina, approximately 

91 percent of the identified business use 

requirements will be met in flood risk 

management uses, as shown in table 2. The 

status of publicly available lidar data in North 

Carolina is shown in figure 1. By enhancing 

coordination between 3DEP and various 

government and private organizations in 

North Carolina, it may be possible to realize 

more than the cited conservative benefits and 

attain the higher potential benefits for many 

business uses.

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

Quality level 4 

or lower data

0 80 Kilometers

0 60 Miles

Figure 1. Map of North Carolina showing 

the extent of existing and planned publicly 

available lidar data. Information source: 

United States Interagency Elevation 

Inventory, June 2014, 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

Gary L. Merrill, 

 USGS Geospatial Liaison

720 Gracern Road, MS 509

Columbia, SC 29210

Email: glmerrill@usgs.gov

http://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/

By William J. Carswell, Jr.

The following examples highlight 

how 3DEP data can support business uses 

in North Carolina: (1) Lidar data provide 

high-quality terrain information as input for 

more accurate and less expensive hydrologic 

and hydraulic modeling for flood studies; for 

design of structures (bridges and culverts) to 

accommodate runoff and flooding from large 

rain events; and for retention dam design, 

dam breach studies, and stormwater management and engineering. Lidar data also aid the 

identification of vulnerable properties within 

a floodplain, facilitating better floodplainmanagement decisions and education of the 

public on true flood risks (fig. 2). Dynamic 

3D models using lidar data show the potential 

impact of flooding as a result of large storm 

events and coastal overland storm surges. 

With an enhanced ability to predict surfacewater movement along high-risk coastal 

areas, emergency planners have the ability to 

design improved evacuation routes to better 

protect the public should a disaster strike. 

(2) The statewide orthoimagery program, 

funded by the NC 911 Board, is dependent 

on current high-resolution elevation data to 

develop a high-quality product for emergency 

response. The orthoimagery program is 

leveraging the Federal and State contributions 

toward lidar to produce a 6-inch-resolution 

statewide imagery product that saves time 

locating and responding to emergencies and 

that provides online map services (available 

to the public) for a myriad of uses. (3) The 

North Carolina Geographic Information 

Coordinating Council endorsed lidar-derived 

data as the source of high-accuracy elevation 

data for North Carolina and formally adopted 

the “North Carolina Technical Specifications 

for LiDAR Base Mapping” report, based 

on the USGS lidar base specification in 

2013. The North Carolina specifications will 

enhance USGS efforts to collect and develop 

a nationally consistent elevation program.

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/fs20143066

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. Lidar data can be used to extract 

building footprints (in red) and identify the 

finished floor elevation in order to quantify 

potential damages based on flooding depths 

and to determine if buildings are above the 

base flood elevation. Courtesy of John Dorman, 

North Carolina Department of Public Safety, 

Floodplain Mapping 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 

North Carolina (Dewberry, 2011).

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(millions)

1 Flood risk management $63.27

2 Natural resources conservation 1.90

3 Agriculture and precision farming 1.80

4 Infrastructure and construction management 1.04

5 Forest resources management 0.35

6 Sea level rise and subsidence 0.26

7 Coastal zone management 0.25

8 Aviation navigation and safety 0.13

9 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation 0.13

10 Renewable energy resources 0.02

Other 0.03

Total 69.18

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