Lidar for Utah: what 3D elevation data are worth to the state

Lidar — laser mapping from aircraft — gives Utah a detailed 3D model of its ground, and the U.S. Geological Survey's 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is collecting it statewide. A national assessment conservatively put the benefit to Utah at $8.70 million a year, most of it in building and maintaining infrastructure.

What the data are

3DEP collects lidar at "quality level 2" or better, in partnership with federal, state, Tribal, territorial and local agencies:

The products are the full point clouds and bare-earth elevation models at 1 metre or finer, in The National Map — free, with no restrictions on use.

Where Utah gains

• Flash floods. Much of Utah's flash-flood risk, especially along streams that run only part of the year, has never been mapped. Lidar lets the state's Risk MAP programme map it and update old maps; local and Tribal governments use it to plan development and flood defences.
• Land and the Great Salt Lake. State and federal land agencies use elevation data for wildfire and vegetation management, soils and wetlands, rivers, erosion control and recreation. Activity around the Great Salt Lake is worth more than $1.3 billion a year — brine shrimp, salt and minerals, recreation, wildlife — and as the lake shrinks, lidar on land and under water tracks its shoreline and volume.
• Geology. The Utah Geological Survey uses lidar to map geology, karst, aquifer recharge areas and geothermal potential, and to find and respond to landslides, debris flows and faults.

Before and after the Dollar Ridge Fire. The fire burned more than 100 square miles near the Strawberry River in July 2018; later that month a storm on the burn scar sent debris flows and floods down the slopes. Lidar from spring 2018 (left) and August 2019 (right) shows the new sediment and the reshaped channel. USGS.

The programme

Nationally, 3DEP is conservatively worth $690 million a year, with the potential for $13 billion more. Buying lidar for large areas at once is cheaper; steady federal funding lets partners plan; consistent coverage crosses county and watershed lines; and the USGS handles contracts, quality checks and specifications. Governments and private companies can join through an annual Data Collaboration Announcement — paying into USGS-run projects, running their own with cooperative funds, contributing data that meet the standard, or buying up to a higher quality level.

Sources

Written from The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting Utah's economy, U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2025–3004, a work of the United States government in the public domain; benefit estimates are from the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment (Dewberry, 2012).