USGS announces partnership awards for elevation and hydrological data collection as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda

These new partnerships are made possible by $6 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Service and Agricultural Production and Protection Business Center and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Up-to-date, accurate 3D elevation and hydrological data enables critical decisions to protect people, property and the environment, including Flood risk management, agriculture, Infrastructure projects, and natural hazard risk management. These USGS programs provide an estimated $8.6 billion in benefits to the American public each year.

To meet the growing demand for high-quality three-dimensional elevation data, the USGS created the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) to provide the first-ever publicly accessible, consistent, high-resolution topographic elevation data baseline for the U.S. Using this data, the USGS 3D Hydrology Program (3DHP) is also working to completely update U.S. hydrological information and models to improve the discovery and sharing of water-related data.

The 21 new partnerships announced today are expected to add more than 72,000 square miles of lidar data to the 3DEP data inventory and more than 97,000 square miles of terrestrial hydrological data to the 3DHP data inventory.

“we are very happy By New “The 3DNTM DCA process confirms the interest in 3DEP and 3DHP going forward,” said Darcee Killpack, Acting Associate Director for Core Science Systems at the USGS. “It’s encouraging to see the diversity of landscapes and user applications the data will support. We also Thanks for including inflation reduction in bill funding Accelerate the achievement of acquisition goals 3D data nationwide coverage”

The 3DNTM DCA is an open process to identify and select collaborative opportunities. Federal agencies, state and local governments, tribes, academic institutions, and the private sector are eligible to submit project proposals. The DCA provides an opportunity each year to leverage the expertise and capabilities of private sector mapping companies to acquire high-quality 3D elevation data for the United States.

For more information on 3DNTM, 3DEP and 3DHP, including updates on selected DCA projects and current and future collaboration opportunities, visit www.usgs.gov/3d-national-topography-model