Greetings NSGIC 3DEP for the Nation Leaders,
We, along with our colleagues at NOAA, have some very exciting news to share with NSGIC – the completion of something we have been working towards for several years. Would you kindly please share the following message with your members?
The 3D Nation Elevation Requirements and Benefits Study, led through a partnership between NOAA and USGS, has been released by Dewberry, the contractors for the study, and can be found through this USGS website: https://www.usgs.gov/3d-elevation-program/3d-nation-elevation-requirements-and-benefits-study. The 3D Nation Study builds on the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment (NEEA, Dewberry, 2012) to document U.S. topographic, and inland, nearshore, and offshore bathymetric 3D elevation data requirements and benefits. The NEEA was a seminal study and the 3D Nation Study is even more comprehensive in the terrestrial, coastal, and ocean geographies and technical information it covers.
Special thanks to all the NSGIC members and their staff who participated in the study! It was a long haul made more challenging by government shutdowns and COVID. But the payback is tremendous and the results are already being evaluated to help design the next generation of 3DEP along with new ocean and coastal mapping work in NOAA. This study is foundational to our future direction of the 3D National Topography Model (3DNTM) that integrates elevation and hydrography in 3D and provides the terrestrial component of the 3D Nation vision we share with NOAA to build a continuous elevation/hydrography surface from the peaks of our mountains to the depths of our waters.
The USGS looks forward to continuing collaboration with NSGIC on our future direction.
Best Regards,
Brian
Brian C. Hadley
Elevation Data Acquisition Lead
USGS National Geospatial Program
Mobile: (720) 951-8722
https://usgs.gov/3DEP