FY25 3DEP Data Collaboration Announcement (DCA) Selected Projects

CA - Acquire, Process and Interpret Lidar Data to Finish the Characterization of Tier 2 and Tier 3 Fire Risk Regions in California 

Due to both anthropogenic and atmospheric/climate stressors, a majority of the State of California is under threat of continued catastrophic fire. QL1 lidar data for the Phase 3 Northern California region DCA will complete the characterization of fuel loads for Tier 2/Tier 3 high fire risk regions in California (12,741 sq miles). Completion of this multi-year lidar collection project will significantly empower firefighters, first responders, legislators, city planners, and scientists in California for years to come, spawning valuable research and mitigation plans to ultimately increase the State’s resiliency towards this new extreme fire risk. 

• Project Partner: University of California, San Diego (UCSD) 

• Project Size (mi²): 32,547

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC) 

FL - QL1+ Lidar Update for Manatee County, FL 

As a rapidly growing and low-lying coastal county in Florida, the topography of Manatee County is constantly changing from building and natural events. Adding to the extensive anthropomorphic change occurring in approximately 25% of the county since the last lidar update occurred in 2018, three major hurricanes (Hurricane Ian, Hurricane Idalia, and Hurricane Debby) have passed by the county altering the landscape. Most recently, in August 2024, Hurricane Debby's rain resulted in extensive local flooding, demonstrating the need for updated stormwater models. Updated and high-quality QL1+ lidar data are used by numerous county agencies for emergency planning and evacuation routing, resiliency planning, stormwater modeling, and flood protection. The older, less dense lidar is now out-of-date and does not represent the topography sufficiently to meet the needs of the county. This mission will update those older lidar data and is in coordination with adjacent Hillsborough County lidar updates in FY2024/25. 

• Project Partner: Manatee County, Board of County Commissioners 

• Project Size (mi²): 779 

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC) 

FL - 2025 QL1 Palm Beach County Lidar 

Newly acquired QL 1 lidar for Palm Beach County will support the county's need for a lidar refresh along with derivative products, like a new 3DHP pilot project, that will be the first step towards a statewide coverage and a new lidar elevation-derived hydrography dataset that will replace the SFWMD portion of the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). SFWMD's current hydrography dataset is based on the digitation of surface water features created as far back as the 1950s. The resolution and accuracy of tertiary canals, culverts and ephemeral streams are out of date, compromising critical infrastructure, engineering, planning, water resource and emergency management needs.  

• Project Partner: Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation 

• Project Size (mi²): 2,396 

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC) 

FL - QL1 with upgraded/enhanced breaklining Lidar update for five counties in the western Panhandle of Florida      

As a rapidly growing and low-lying coastal counties in the panhandle of Florida, the topography of this five-county area is constantly changing from building and recent natural events. Adding to the anthropomorphic change, since the last lidar update occurred in 2017, two major hurricanes (Hurricane Nate and Hurricane Michael) have ravaged the area altering the landscape and topography. While the USGS has remapped several counties to the east in the panhandle under the Hurricane Michael Relief Program, and the counties in the peninsula of Florida were updated in the 2018 Florida Peninsular Project, these counties were not included. Updated and high-quality QL1 with upgraded/enhanced breaklining lidar data are used by numerous county agencies for emergency planning and evacuation routing, resiliency planning, stormwater modeling, and flood protection. The older, less dense lidar is now out-of-date and does not represent the topography sufficiently to meet the growing needs of the county. This mission will update those older lidar data. 

• Project Partner: State of Florida/Department of Environmental Protection/ Florida Geological Survey 

• Project Size (mi²): 3,708 

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC) 

IN - Hamilton County IN     

Through the USGS’s FY25 DCA program, Hamilton County Indiana is launching Part 1 of an initiative to develop and share new Quality-Level 1 (QL1) 3DEP lidar data and thereby lay the groundwork for developing and sharing corresponding 3DHP EDH Data developed for Part 2 in FY26 as an Indiana County leader in the acquisition and applications of high-accuracy GIS data since the 1990s. Building on this legacy in 2024, Hamilton County has contracted with Dewberry Engineers to acquire, process, and deliver USGS 3DEP compliant QL1 data and compliant 3DHP Elevation-derived Hydrography (EDH) data. This data will not only enhance the County’s GIS data used by our local, state, federal partners, and citizens, but will also support the advancement of Indiana’s statewide hydrography data infrastructure by supporting pilot projects using the County’s EDH data to explore and evaluate cost-effective methods for Indiana’s statewide EDH development in support of the USGS 3DHP program. 

• Project Partner: Hamilton County GIS Office, Information Systems Services (ISS) Department 

• Project Size (mi²): 485 

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Financial Assistance 

KY - KyFromAbove 2025 Lidar Acquisition       

The KyFromAbove program will re-acquire lidar data for counties that were previously collected during the 2019-2020 timeframe. Reacquisition of data for this area will ensure that it meets current QL2 specifications. The data will be leveraged by the Ky Division of Water, NRCS, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Daniel Boone National Forest, all executive branch agencies, and 15 Counties to improve analysis, design, and research conducted within the AOI's. All collected data will be shared across state government and in the public domain where it brings value to a wide array of business processes. 

• Project Partner: Commonwealth of Kentucky 

• Project Size (mi²): 4,802 

• Quality Level: 2 

• Project Approach: Financial Assistance 

NY - New York City Department of Environmental Protection Watershed    

This project continues New York State's efforts to update statewide elevation data via lidar collection in coordination with Federal efforts. The planned project will cover the entire New York City Department of Environmental Conservation (NYCDEP) watersheds (Catskill/Delaware Watersheds (West of Hudson) and Croton Watershed (East of Hudson)). The project area was built out to avoid data gaps with existing projects. These watersheds cover portions of Bronx, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, New York, Orange, Putnam, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester Counties. All new collections will meet at a minimum Quality Level 2 specifications and are planned to begin in Spring 2025. Several prior collections cover the project area including data from 2014 (79 sqmi), 2019 (2,404 sqmi), and 2022 (1086 sqmi). The proposed extents have significant overlap with existing data to provide sufficient data for checking and adjusting spatial alignment. The project area was selected following discussions with NYC DEP, FEMA, USDA-NRCS and USGS about in-progress and planned Federal lidar collections. Planning has been completed with input and support from NY State Agencies, as well as counties and regional organizations. 

• Project Partner: New York Office of Information Technology Services 

• Project Size (mi²): 3,571 

• Quality Level: 2 

• Project Approach: Financial Assistance 

SC - Coastal Counties and Communities of South Carolina   

This project was spurred by flood models returning data artifacts that pointed to problems with elevation data in the coastal region of South Carolina. South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) has set aside state-level funding to update and improve the elevation data of our coastal counties to make sure that these most-flood prone areas of the state are able to be modelled effectively, especially as development along our coast is burgeoning. Understanding how water moves across such a flat part of our terrain and how it relates to the potential impacts of Sea Level Rise to our coastal resources will be greatly assisted with lidar flown at low tide. These sensitive areas are at risk of environmental and human stressors.  

• Project Partner: South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) 

• Project Size (mi²): 7,659 

• Quality Level: 1 & 2 

• Project Approach: Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC) 

TN - TN Hamilton County FY25 3DEP    

The State of Tennessee is pursuing the goal of collecting Next Generation 3DEP Quality Level (QL1) lidar to meet the business needs of multiple data users and stakeholders in Tennessee. Tennessee has a strong history of statewide GIS coordination and participation in 3DEP. As part of an enhanced elevation business plan, Tennessee finished statewide collection and is now targeting areas to refresh with newer and better QL1 lidar data. The proposed collection area covers Hamilton County, Tennessee. The area was originally collected with QL2 in 2015 under a 3DEP Project (TN 27 County 2015). Hamilton County, home to the city of Chattanooga, has experienced major population growth, increasing 4% in the past 3 years. A major contributing partner for this proposed project is Hamilton County government. Lidar data supports many use cases in the county such as stormwater management, infrastructure projects, planning, vegetation and environmental studies among others. Federal entities benefiting from this collection would be the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support various programs. 

• Project Partner: State of Tennessee-Department of Finance and Administration 

• Project Size (mi²): 625 

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC) 

TN - West TN 3 County FY25 3DEP    

The State of Tennessee is pursuing the goal of collecting Next Generation 3DEP Quality Level (QL1) lidar to meet the business needs of multiple data users and stakeholders in Tennessee. Tennessee has a strong history of statewide GIS coordination and participation in 3DEP. As part of an enhanced elevation business plan, Tennessee finished statewide collection and is now targeting areas to refresh with newer and better QL1 lidar data. The proposed collection area is a 3-county area in west Tennessee covering Fayette, Hardeman, and McNairy counties. The area was originally collected in 2015 by the USDA-NRCS and is now nine years old and is the oldest Quality Level 2 (QL2) in the west Tennessee region. A major contributing partner for this proposed project is the West Tennessee River Basin Authority (WTRBA), who has great need for refreshed data to support ongoing environmental construction, infrastructure projects, planning, and other work. Federal entities benefiting from this collection would be US Army Corps of Engineers, the United States Dept. of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support various programs. 

• Project Partner: State of Tennessee-Department of Finance and Administration 

• Project Size (mi²): 2,074 

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC) 

WA - Washington State Five Counties Re-Collection Project    

This project proposes collection of Pierce County in Washington State covering 1,712 square miles with QL1 lidar coverage. Approximately half of the current coverage for Pierce County is five years old when the county previously worked with the 3D Elevation Program in 2020. Goals for this proposal are to partner with the state in order to achieve a five-year refresh rate and provide full, temporally consistent, county-wide coverage to track trends and monitor critical land, natural resource, and hydrologic projects. This proposal further builds upon the state’s lidar plan to collect full county areas to keep data updated, relevant, consistent, and maintain a high-quality standard for elevation data.  

• Project Partner: Washington State Department of Natural Resources 

• Project Size (mi²): 1,712

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Financial Assistance 

WI - Wolf River Watershed Area     

The Wisconsin Land Information Program (WLIP), in partnership with Wisconsin counties and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), will continue to update lidar statewide through the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP). The WLIP requests assistance from 3DEP to acquire QL1 lidar data for three counties: Forest, Menominee, and Outagamie. Total project area is 2,154 square miles. The project area supports local data needs by the DOT, DNR, county government, private business, and more. The 2025 round of data collections will update areas of the state that have experienced significant landscape changes due to flooding and storm events. Local contributing partners include Forest, Menominee, and Outagamie counties, as well as WisDOT. 

• Project Partner: Wisconsin Department of Administration 

• Project Size (mi²): 2,154 

• Quality Level: 1 

• Project Approach: Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC) 

WI - 2025 Southeast Wisconsin – High Density Lidar capture    

Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) is conducting a 2025 high density lidar project in partnership with its seven member counties and regional stakeholders. The project supports the data needs of state and county government, energy utilities, and private industry. This project is being done in coordination with Wisconsin DOA, the Wisconsin Land Information Program, and the statewide lidar program. Southeast Wisconsin, the most densely populated region of the state, including four counties with Lake Michigan shoreline, is home to high quality inland lakes and streams, and is an important agricultural producer. Since the last regional lidar projects were conducted in 2015 and 2017, there has been significant development along the interstate corridors in this region, along with localized flooding, and shoreline erosion along Lake Michigan. 

• Project Partner: Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission 

• Project Size (mi²): 2,709 

• Quality Level: 0 

• Project Approach: Financial Assistance