3DEP in Washington by the Numbers

Expected annual benefits $9.46 million 

Estimated total cost $22.55 million

Payback 2.4  years

Quality level 1 buy-up 

estimate

$14.35 million

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2013–3057, ver. 1.1

August 2014

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary for Washington

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.

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 Washington, elevation 

data are critical for natural resources 

conservation, agriculture and precision 

farming, infrastructure and construction management, flood risk 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. 

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 

Figure 1. Map of Washington 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 requierments. 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

0 60 Kilometers lidar data

0 40 Miles

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 Washington

The top 10 Washington 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 Washington 

estimated that the national 3DEP initiative would result in at least $9.4 million 

in new benefits annually to the State. The 

cost for such a program in Washington is 

approximately $22.5 million, resulting in 

a payback period of 2.4 years and a benefit/cost ratio of 3.1 to 1 over an 8-year 

period. Because monetary estimates were 

not provided for all reported benefits, the 

total benefits of the 3DEP to Washington 

are likely much higher. On the basis of 

the NEEA survey results, all levels of 

government and many organizations in 

Washington could benefit from access to 

statewide high-resolution elevation data.

For Washington, approximately 

69 percent of the identified business 

use requirements will be met in natural 

resources conservation, agriculture and 

precision farming, infrastructure and 

construction management, and flood risk 

management uses, as shown in table 2. 
By William J. Carswell, Jr.

For Further Information:

Director, 

 USGS National Geospatial Program

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 511

Reston, VA 20192

Email: 3DEP@usgs.gov

Tom Carlson, 

 USGS Geospatial Liaison

Suite 300

934 Broadway

Tacoma, WA 98402

Email: tcarlson@usgs.gov

http://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/

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.

ISSN 2327-6932 (online)

http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/fs20133057

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. Flooding across U.S. Interstate 5 

near Centralia, Washington (85 miles 

southwest of Seattle), January 8, 2009. 

Photograph by Bruce Ely in The Oregonian; 

used with permission.

The status of publicly available lidar data 

in Washington is shown in figure 1. By 

enhancing coordination between 3DEP 

and various government and private 

organizations in Washington, 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 Washington: (1) Enhanced elevation 

data could enable State, regional, and 

local governments to more effectively 

implement natural resources conservation 

practices while providing additional cost 

savings to the public. If lidar data were 

available nationally, public and private 

organizations would expand their use of 

lidar for planning and site-level engineering to reduce field work for conservation projects such as grade stabilization, 

ponds, grassed waterways, pipelines, terracing, and wetland restoration. (2) Lidar 

data provide high-quality terrain information as input for more accurate and 

less expensive hydrologic and hydraulic 

modeling for flood studies; design of 

structures such as bridges and culverts 

to accommodate runoff and flooding 

from large rain events (fig. 2); 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. Dynamic 

3D models that include lidar data provide more detailed information on the 

potential effects of flooding.

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-NationalEnhanced

ElevationAssessment.

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/.

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

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

Massachusetts (Dewberry, 2011).

Rank Business use Annual benefits

(millions)

1 Natural resources conservation $2.21

2 Agriculture and precision farming 1.52

3 Infrastructure and construction management 1.46

4 Flood risk management 1.33

5 Geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation 0.73

6 Water supply and quality 0.64

7 Coastal zone management 0.50

8 Sea level rise and subsidence 0.48

9 Forest resources management 0.38

10 Aviation navigation and safety 0.11

Other 0.10

Total 9.46

Table 1. Data quality levels and related 

accuracies for the 3D Elevation Program 

(3DEP) initiative. 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