Lidar in Texas: How the 3D Elevation Program Supports the State's Economy

High-resolution elevation data help Texas make decisions that strengthen its economy: becoming more resilient to natural disasters, managing energy infrastructure and assessing natural resources. More current, more accurate data also support conservation, farming, flood risk, construction, geologic hazards, coastal management, and finding archeological and historic sites.

Those uses depend on lidar (light detection and ranging), which builds a detailed 3D model of the ground and everything on it.

The 3D Elevation Program

The USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), run with Federal, State, Tribal, U.S. territorial and local partners, aims for the first-ever national baseline of consistent, high-resolution elevation data from lidar (IfSAR in Alaska). Baseline data are quality level 2 or better, with 1-meter or better elevation models and point clouds, meeting the Lidar Base Specification 1.2 or newer.

3DEP baseline lidar in Texas as of May 2024: available or in progress statewide except an area southeast of Dallas, where contributions are pending. Find data in the Lidar Explorer. USGS

Texas's lidar

The Texas Geographic Information Office (formerly the Texas Natural Resources Information System), part of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), buys lidar through the state-funded Strategic Mapping Program (StratMap), partnering with state, local and federal agencies. Since 2009, 39 partner agencies have contributed to 40 projects worth $19.6 million. With 3DEP collection by federal partners — the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service and the USGS — Texas reached statewide lidar coverage in 2020.

Next: QL1 data in some areas, keeping QL2 coverage current statewide, and better, denser hydrography data built from lidar.

What it's worth

The National Enhanced Elevation Assessment (Dewberry, 2012) conservatively estimated at least $53.1 million a year in new benefits for Texas. Its top 10 uses:

Where it helps

Water. Texas faces tremendous population growth and recurring severe drought. The TWDB's mission is "to lead the State's efforts in ensuring a secure water future for Texas," and lidar underpins its reservoir flood-pool and hydrodynamic modeling, reservoir capacity and sedimentation studies, and freshwater inflow requirements.

Floods. Texas has serious coastal and river flooding. The Blanco River flood killed 12 people and badly damaged infrastructure. High-resolution lidar sharpens floodplain maps and hydrologic models, helping planners find high-risk areas — which could cut flood costs and possibly save lives.

A bridge on Fischer Store Road near Wimberley, destroyed by Blanco River flooding in May 2015; photographed June 1, 2015. USGS Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center

The coast. Tropical storms hit Texas often, costing billions. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office for Coastal Management, Hurricane Harvey (2017) was the most significant tropical cyclone rainfall event in U.S. history, in scope and in peak totals — up to 60.58 inches — with losses estimated at $125 billion. State, regional and local governments use lidar to find areas at risk and make communities more resilient.

Wildlife. Texas Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service use lidar to model habitat and map ecosystems more accurately, improving programs, informing public uses such as state parks, and helping manage natural and cultural resources.

Lidar-derived 3-meter tree canopy classification — more accurate than one from aerial photos — used to model habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia) in the juniper-oak woodlands of central Texas. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Sources

Based on Claire DeVaughan, "The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting the Texas economy," U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2024–3054, USGS; a work of the United States government in the public domain. It cites Dewberry (2012), Heidemann (2012), Sugarbaker and others (2014), the Texas Water Development Board (2023), Blake and Zelinsky (2018) and Mueller and Sesnie (2020).