USGS 3D Elevation Program

USGS 3D Elevation Program
Name	3D Elevation Program
Agency	United States Geological Survey
Formed	2010s
Jurisdiction	United States
Headquarters	Reston, Virginia
Parent agency	Department of the Interior

USGS 3D Elevation Program The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is an initiative administered by the United States Geological Survey to provide nationwide high-resolution topographic data. The program coordinates data acquisition, processing, and distribution with federal partners such as the Department of the Interior, Homeland Security, Department of Agriculture, and Defense agencies, as well as state, local, and private stakeholders including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Bureau of Land Management, and United States Army Corps of Engineers. 3DEP leverages airborne and satellite remote sensing technologies developed in collaboration with institutions like NASA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and academic centers including the University of Colorado Boulder and Pennsylvania State University.

Overview

3DEP was designed to replace and expand earlier elevation mapping efforts such as the National Elevation Dataset and to support programs including the National Hydrography Dataset, National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and the National Land Imaging Program. The initiative serves users across sectors represented by agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation, and National Park Service, enabling interoperability with standards from the International Organization for Standardization, Open Geospatial Consortium, and Federal Geographic Data Committee. By integrating capabilities from vendors and contractors such as DigitalGlobe, Leica Geosystems, Trimble, and Esri, 3DEP aligns with strategic priorities set by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Government Accountability Office.

Data Acquisition and Products

Acquisitions for 3DEP include airborne lidar campaigns, interferometric synthetic aperture radar missions supported by NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and photogrammetric imagery from platforms used by the United States Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Core products include bare-earth digital elevation models, digital surface models, hydro-flattened DEMs for the National Hydrography Dataset, breaklines, classified point clouds, and derived products used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and state departments of transportation. Data delivery and archival are coordinated through systems similar to the USGS National Map and interoperable with services from Esri ArcGIS Online, OpenTopography, and the Amazon Web Services Public Data Program.

Processing and Quality Control

Processing workflows for 3DEP utilize software and methods promoted by the Federal Geographic Data Committee and standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, integrating tools developed by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation, Esri, and commercial vendors like Hexagon Geospatial. Quality assurance includes vertical and horizontal accuracy assessments tied to the North American Datum of 1983 and the North American Vertical Datum of 1988, plus transitions to newer datums such as the North American Datum of 2022. Validation protocols reference benchmarks maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, survey control from the National Geodetic Survey, and accuracy guidance used by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.

Applications and Use Cases

3DEP elevation data support disaster response and resilience planning used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Guard, and Department of Homeland Security; floodplain mapping and hydraulic modeling for the Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency; infrastructure planning for the Department of Transportation and state departments of transportation; ecological and forestry assessment for the United States Forest Service and National Park Service; and precision agriculture applications involving the Department of Agriculture and land-grant universities such as Iowa State University and University of California, Davis. Additional use cases include renewable energy siting for the Department of Energy, telecommunications network planning for the Federal Communications Commission, and archaeological site assessment in coordination with the Smithsonian Institution and state historic preservation offices.

Governance and Partnerships

Governance is coordinated through interagency agreements among the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior bureaus, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Defense elements, and state geospatial information offices. Partnerships extend to academic research groups at institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of Maryland, private sector firms such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, and nonprofit organizations like the American Geophysical Union and Association of American Geographers. Oversight and programmatic guidance are informed by legislation and policy from Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, and directives from the Executive Office of the President.

Funding and Implementation History

Initial planning and funding drew on congressional appropriations and cost-sharing agreements with partners including state governments, the Department of Transportation, and natural resources agencies. Budgetary and implementation milestones have been documented in reports from the Government Accountability Office, Congressional Research Service, and Office of Management and Budget reviews. Historical antecedents include mapping programs at the United States Geological Survey, cooperative state-federal lidar initiatives, and technology maturation supported by NASA research grants and National Science Foundation-funded university projects.

Technical Standards and Formats

Technical standards for 3DEP products are aligned with specifications from the Federal Geographic Data Committee, including metadata standards used by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and formats supported by the Open Geospatial Consortium such as GeoTIFF, LAS/LAZ point cloud formats, and web services compatible with Esri REST and OGC WMS/WCS. Coordinate reference systems adhere to the National Spatial Reference System maintained by the National Geodetic Survey and use vertical datums established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Quality control manuals reference guidelines published by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and interoperability testing conducted with partners including the OpenTopography consortium and academic centers.

Category:United States Geological Survey Category:Remote sensing'