The 3D Elevation Program: summary for California

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 California, elevation data are critical for infrastructure and construction management; natural resources conservation; flood risk management; wildfire management, planning, and response; agriculture and precision farming; geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation; and other business uses. Today, high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data are the sources for creating elevation models and other elevation datasets. Federal, State, and local agencies work in partnership to (1) replace data, on a national basis, that are (on average) 30 years old 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 new 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative (Snyder, 2012a,b), managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), responds to the growing need for high-quality topographic data and a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation’s natural and constructed features.

3D Elevation Program Benefits for California

The top 10 California business uses for 3D elevation data, which are based on the estimated annual conservative benefits of the 3DEP initiative, are shown in table

1. The National Enhanced Elevation

Assessment (NEAA; Dewberry, 2011) survey respondents in the State of California estimated that the national 3DEP initiative

3DEP in California by the Numbers

Figure 1. Map of California showing the areal extent and quality levels of planned and existing publicly available light detection and ranging (lidar) data in August 2013. Quality level 2 or better lidar data meet 3DEP requirements. See table 2 for quality level information.

would result in at least $28 million in new benefits annually to the State. The cost for such a program in California is approximately $53 million, resulting in a payback period of 1.9 years and a benefitto-cost ratio of 4.3 to 1 over an 8-year period. Because monetary estimates were not provided for all reported benefits, the total benefits of the 3DEP to California are likely much higher. On the basis of the NEEA survey results, all levels of government and many organizations in California could benefit from access to statewide high-resolution elevation data.

The NEEA evaluated multiple data-collection options to determine the optimal data quality and data replacement cycle relative to cost to meet the stated needs. For California, approximately 74 percent of the total benefits are realized in infrastructure and construction management; natural resources conservation; flood risk management; and wildfire management, planning, and response uses alone, as shown in table 1. The status of publicly available lidar data in California is shown in figure 1. By enhancing coordination between the 3DEP and the various government and private organizations in California, it may be possible to realize more than the cited conservative benefits.

The following are examples of how 3DEP data can support business uses in

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 2022, depending on funding and partnerships. The new program 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).

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.

California: (1) When lidar data are readily available, the need for traditional topographic land surveys (including infrastructure and construction site planning and estimating) is minimized. Reducing the time required for project planning provides a cost savings to the public. Lidar data can be used for preliminary highway alignment and design, estimating earthwork quantities, evaluating existing roadway conditions, and identifying needed safety projects. Enhanced elevation data helps to improve compliance with building and environmental regulations; enables the evaluation of numerous potential sites with a sufficient level of detail for decisionmaking; provides input to hydraulic modeling for the design of structures (bridges and culverts) to accommodate runoff and flooding from large rain events; and the integration with other data, such as geologic, engineering, and environmental data, to expedite project review and reduce cost. A statewide elevation dataset would facilitate communication and interoperability among Federal, State, regional, and local transportation organizations and foster cooperation at all levels of government. (2) Approximately 27 percent of the land area of California is devoted to agricultural uses. Enhanced elevation data could dramatically improve precision farming (fig. 2). A more accurate depiction of the terrain could improve crop yields, prevent soil degradation, minimize groundwater usage, and reduce agricultural chemical runoff, helping farmers realize a larger return on their investments. (3) High-resolution elevation data informs fire behavior modeling, fire response, vegetation loads, and post-fire assessment for slope instability, leading to improved public safety.

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/.

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