U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2012–3089

June 2012

The 3D Elevation Program—Summary

of Program Direction

Introduction

The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) 

initiative responds to a growing need 

for high-quality topographic data and a 

wide range of other three-dimensional 

representations of the Nation’s natural 

and constructed features. The National 

Enhanced Elevation Assessment (NEEA), 

which was completed in 2011, clearly 

documented this need within government 

and industry sectors. The results of the 

NEEA indicated that enhanced elevation 

data have the potential to generate 

$13 billion in new benefi ts annually. The 

benefi ts apply to fl ood risk management, 

agriculture, water supply, homeland 

security, renewable energy, aviation safety, 

and other areas. The 3DEP initiative was 

recommended by the National Digital 

Elevation Program and its 12 Federal 

member agencies and was endorsed by 

the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) and the National 

Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). 

Goals and Benefits 

The primary goal of 3DEP is to 

systematically collect enhanced elevation 

data in the form of high-quality light 

detection and ranging (lidar) data over 

the conterminous United States, Hawaii, 

and the territories on an 8-year schedule. 

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar 

(ifsar) data will be collected over Alaska, 

where both the cloud cover and the remote 

location preclude the use of lidar over 

much of the State. It is expected that 

private-sector data-acquisition companies 

will mobilize to respond to these lidar and 

ifsar data needs and that the products and 

services will be accessible to all levels of 

government and the public. 3DEP will 

provide easy access to these authoritative 

data and derived products by using a 

cloud-based infrastructure. 3DEP products 

and services will be provided nationally 

at signifi cantly higher resolution and 

accuracy than are available today.

The enhanced elevation data support 

fl ood-risk management, natural resources 

conservation, infrastructure management, 

agriculture and precision farming, aviation 

safety, renewable energy development, 

and many other identifi ed business 

applications. The potential benefi ts to 

precision agriculture and intelligent 

vehicle navigation alone are estimated 

at over $9 billion annually (Dewberry, 

2011). It is expected that new, unimagined 

information services will be created, thus 

spawning job growth and transformation 

in the geospatial community. The following examples demonstrate the value of 

enhanced elevation data to both Federal 

and State programs. These examples are 

among the 602 applications documented in 

the NEEA report (Dewberry, 2011):

1. The Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA) expects that a national 

enhanced elevation program could 

reduce the amount of time needed 

to update its fl ood maps. These data 

could provide signifi cant benefi ts to 

the communities and citizens that are 

customers of the National Flood 

Insurance Program by providing 

updated information to affected 

communities and homeowners more 

quickly. In addition, the national availability of enhanced elevation data (not 

just for areas where FEMA identifi es a 

need) could lead to innovative tools that 

build on FEMA’s fl ood-risk data and 

make them more powerful, effective, 

and easier to use; for example, users 

may be able to easily visualize a variety 

of fl ood levels in three dimensions. 

2. Using lidar data, U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS) scientists discovered 

a surface rupture along the Tacoma 

fault in the State of Washington. This 

discovery led to a redesign of the 

structural elements of a $735-million 

suspension bridge across the Tacoma 

Narrows. When lidar data enable the 

identifi cation of active faults near 

Enhanced elevation data support critical applications

Flood risk 

management

Infrastructure 

management

Natural 

resources 

conservation

Agriculture 

and precision 

farming

Stream 

resource 

management

Water supply

Wildfire 

management

Aviation safety

Geologic 

resource 

assessment

Forest 

resources 

management
The National Research Council (2007) 

concluded that the Nation’s elevation 

data are inadequate to support FEMA’s 

flood-plain mapping activities and that 

new national elevation data collection 

is required. The report proposed the 

use of lidar as the primary technology 

for elevation data acquisition and noted 

that these data would have many 

beneficial uses beyond FEMA’s floodplain mapping needs.

planned nuclear-waste-treatment 

facilities or a major suspension bridge, 

proactive mitigation steps may be taken 

to avoid potential catastrophes in the 

future.

3. The U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency’s (EPA’s) environmental impact 

assessments (EIAs) depend upon 

accurate elevation data for vulnerability 

mapping and for estimating the threat 

of sea-level rise to human populations, 

infrastructure, the fi sh and shellfi sh 

industries, and the coastal environment. 

Credible EIAs cannot be performed 

without accurate lidar data. The EPA 

estimates that billions of dollars would 

be saved by States, local communities, 

and citizens because they may have 

accurate elevation data on which to 

base their sea-level-rise mitigation 

activities.

4. The Centers for Disease Control 

indicate that lidar data provide signifi -

cant benefi ts for occupational safety 

and health by enabling many tasks to 

be performed in an offi ce environment 

that were previously performed in the 

fi eld under dangerous or unhealthful 

conditions. For example, conducting 

land surveys during highway construction results in traffi c deaths among 

surveyors each year. This hazard may 

be largely eliminated by the use of 

lidar-based surveys. 

5. In the State of Alaska, poor-quality 

elevation data pose an ongoing threat 

to aviation safety. Improved elevation 

data for cockpit navigation and fl ight 

simulators may save a signifi cant 

number of lives each year by reducing 

the number of accidents that result from 

the inability to safely fl y over obstacles 

in the air space. The elevation data in 

Alaska have large demonstrated errors 

and are not reliable for safe navigation. 

Poor weather conditions, extremes 

in terrain, and reliance on air travel 

underscore Alaska’s requirement for 

improved elevation data for aviation 

safety. 

6. Enhanced elevation data for the State 

of Illinois would dramatically improve 

precision farming. A more accurate 

depiction of variations in local relief 

helps determine a more accurate rate for 

applying agricultural chemicals, thereby 

yielding a signifi cant cost savings 

and reducing agricultural pollution. 

Approximately two-thirds of the land 

area of Illinois is devoted to agricultural 

uses. 

Governance 

3DEP will be a cooperatively funded 

national elevation program led by the 

USGS, which is the Federal Geographic 

Data Committee’s designated lead Federal 

agency for the collection and management 

of terrestrial elevation data. A governance 

model is being developed to solidify 3DEP 

partner agency roles and data acquisition 

strategies, program expectations, and 

constraints. The program will be designed 

to meet the mission-critical data needs of 

the 3DEP partners and other communities 

of use. The Federal agencies poised to 

realize the highest benefi ts to their mission 

from enhanced elevation data include the 

Natural Resources Conservation Service, 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

the Defense Installation Spatial Data 

Infrastructure, the USGS, the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency, the EPA, the U.S. Forest Service, 

the Federal Aviation Administration, 

and the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency. States and other partners will be 

able to participate in 3DEP and could fund 

higher quality data where needed. Efforts 

to reach out to current and future partners 

are underway. 

Lidar image of University of Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. Lidar data support facility 

siting, infrastructure and construction management, and emergency response.

Implementation

The program is expected to continue 

to function as an activity that is coordinated by the National Digital Elevation 

Program. Several key changes are 

expected as the current elevation program 

transitions to 3DEP. These changes 

include an expansion of the partnership 

base, larger and thus more cost-effective 

projects, a directed approach for national 

coverage, improved data quality, and 

expanded application services.

References Cited

Dewberry, 2011, Final Report of the 

National Enhanced Elevation Assessment (revised 2012): Fairfax, Va., 

Dewberry, 84 p. plus appendixes, 

available at http://www.dewberry.com/

Consultants/GeospatialMapping/

FinalReport-NationalEnhanced

ElevationAssessment.

National Research Council, 2007, Elevation data for fl oodplain mapping: Washington, D.C., The National Academies 

Press, 168 p. (Also available at 

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.

php?record_id=11829&page=1.)

For Further Information

Further information on the 3DEP 

initiative may be obtained by contacting 

Mark DeMulder at mdemulder@usgs.gov 

or (703) 648–5569.

By Gregory I. Snyder