The U.S. Geological Survey’s 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is foundational to national mapping, resilience planning, infrastructure development, and countless public- and private-sector geospatial applications. As demand for high-quality elevation data continues to grow—and as technology evolves at a rapid pace—3DEP’s success depends on both the continual enhancement of production systems and a deep understanding of the real-world variability found in airborne lidar datasets. This session brings together two complementary perspectives from the USGS National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC), highlighting both the innovation behind next-generation workflows and the lessons learned from years of lidar data validation.
The following presentations will be shared in this session:
Interesting Anomalies Identified in USGS 3DEP Aerial Lidar Data Over the Years
Presented by Erik Ahl, U.S. Geological Survey – National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
For over a decade, the USGS National Geospatial Technical Operations Center has been validating and publishing airborne lidar elevation products for the 3D Elevation Program. The in-depth review of hundreds of different 3DEP lidar projects over the U.S. has exposed numerous interesting anomalies identifiable in these datasets. While many of these anomalies have been removed or isolated in published 3DEP elevation products, their presence in point clouds delivered to the USGS underscores the unique characteristics of every lidar dataset. This graphics-heavy presentation highlights examples of these anomalies resulting from different lidar technologies, processing methodologies, environmental conditions, and more.
Systems Development for the Next Generation of 3DEP and 3DHP
Presented by Amanda Lowe, U.S. Geological Survey – National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
The National Geospatial Technical Operations Center is responsible for developing and implementing tools, workflows, and enterprise data management and delivery systems to support implementation of the next generation of the 3D Elevation Program and the 3D Hydrography Program. Data Validation, Product Generation, and Product Delivery Systems are continuously improved to take advantage of current technology. A review of these will be presented, including use of open-source tools, building a training library for error detection AI models, and methods for production scaling.
