Microproduct Data GuideIntermediate

USGS 3DEP One Arc-Second Elevation

USGS one arc-second elevation GeoTIFF tiles for measuring terrain relief and ruggedness across mapped regions.

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At a Glance

Difficulty
Intermediate — some data preparation helps
Size
Very Large · 300 KB–100 GB
Formats
GeoTIFF
Access
Download
API Key
Not Required
Provider
U.S. Geological Survey
Updates
Occasional
Last Verified
Sep 28, 2026
Source Type
Government Source
Data Terms
USGS 3DEP elevation data are public domain; cite the tile vintage and retain vertical-datum metadata.
  • Python Syntax Checked

From Source to Product Signal

Test a Product Idea in Four Steps

The National Map stages 3DEP one arc-second GeoTIFF tiles, including historical versions pinned by HouseHunter. Start with one small coastal tile; a bare raster value cannot be interpreted without no-data, unit, and datum metadata.

1

Check the Setup

  • Python 3.10 or newer
  • An internet connection
  • The requests and rasterio Python packages
2

Access the Data

  1. 1.Review the official 3DEP resolution and vertical-datum documentation.
  2. 2.Download one pinned one arc-second GeoTIFF tile.
  3. 3.Inspect its bounds, no-data value, and a small overview before comparing terrain.
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3

Run the Python Example

Install the packages, then run the notebook cell.

python -m pip install requests rasterio

import requests
from rasterio.io import MemoryFile

url = "https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/Elevation/1/TIFF/historical/n32w081/USGS_1_n32w081_20220725.tif"
response = requests.get(url, timeout=35)
response.raise_for_status()
with MemoryFile(response.content) as memory:
    with memory.open() as tile:
        overview = tile.read(1, out_shape=(36, 36), masked=True)
        print(tile.bounds, tile.nodata, float(overview.min()), float(overview.max()))
4

Test a Useful Signal

Inspect One Elevation Tile

Show a tile's geographic bounds and the range of sampled elevation values.

  1. 01Download one small official 3DEP GeoTIFF.
  2. 02Display its bounds, no-data marker, and overview value range.
  3. 03Explain why different vintages and vertical references must be reconciled before comparison.

Related Datasets

Dataset Details

U.S. Geological Survey is a government source. Last verified 2026-09-28. Temporal coverage: current and historical one arc-second tile vintages.

Data Types

Raster

Tasks

Mapping

Geography

United States

Formats

GeoTIFF

Provider

U.S. Geological Survey

Data Terms

USGS 3DEP elevation data are public domain; cite the tile vintage and retain vertical-datum metadata.

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