Advancing the Next Generation of the 3D Elevation Program

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.