The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Colorado

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 Colorado, 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

3DEP in Colorado by the Numbers

Figure 1. Map of Colorado 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.

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 Colorado

The top 10 Colorado 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 Colorado estimated that the national 3DEP initiative would result in at least $9.5 million in new benefits annually to the State. The cost for such a program in Colorado is approximately $35 million, resulting in a payback period of 3.7 years and a benefit/cost ratio of 2.2 to 1 over an 8-year period. Because monetary estimates were not provided for all reported benefits, the total benefits of the 3DEP to Colorado are likely much higher. On the basis of the NEEA survey results, all levels of government and many organizations in Colorado could benefit from access to statewide high-resolution elevation data.

For Colorado, approximately 58 percent of the identified business use requirements will be met in natural resources conservation and agriculture and precision farming uses, as shown in table 2. The status of publicly available lidar data 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 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.

Colorado is shown in figure 1. By enhancing coordination between 3DEP and various government and private organizations in Colorado, 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 Colorado: (1) Enhanced elevation data could enable State, regional, and local governments to more effectively implement natural resources conservation practices (fig. 2) 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 sitelevel engineering to reduce field work for conservation projects such as grade stabilization, ponds, grassed waterways, pipelines, terracing, and wetland restoration. (2) Approximately 17 percent of the land area of Colorado is devoted to agricultural uses. Enhanced elevation data can provide a more accurate depiction of terrain and dramatically improve precision farming activities, which helps improve crop yields, prevent soil degradation, and reduce agricultural chemical runoff— factors that help farmers realize a larger return on their investments.

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/.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from U.S. Geological Survey. Published by the U.S. Geological Survey and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.