Free Elevation Data for Oregon
Oregon's elevation data is public: lidar flown for the state and assembled by the USGS into a seamless model anyone can download. Here is where it lives, what you may do with it, and where the real cost actually sits.
What is free
Ground elevations on this site come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) seamless bare-earth model: 3.3 ft per pixel where lidar has been flown and about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere, with elevations above NAVD 88. The data is in the public domain. Most of Oregon’s lidar was flown through the Oregon Lidar Consortium, run by DOGAMI, the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. DOGAMI reports about 99% of Oregon covered by at least one lidar project. Being in the public domain means no fee, no account and no restriction on commercial use. DOGAMI publishes its mosaics and project data openly too. More from the USGS 3D Elevation Program and DOGAMI’s lidar program.
| Dataset | Resolution | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|
| USGS 3DEP seamless DEM | 3.3 ft per pixel where lidar exists, about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere | Bare-earth ground. Fine contours, slope, drainage, cut and fill, building pads — anything where a foot or two matters. |
| DOGAMI surface model mosaic | 3 ft | The top of everything — tree crowns, roofs, power lines. Shade, views over trees, object heights. Still being completed. |
| Lidar point clouds (LAS/LAZ) | varies by project | The raw lidar returns before gridding, for custom classification and forestry work. |
| USGS topographic maps | one fixed contour interval per sheet | The published map series, with names, roads and trails, as printable sheets. |
| Basemap and hillshade tiles | n/a | Pre-rendered topographic and relief tiles to put behind a web map. |
Where to get it
The same underlying data is published several ways for different needs. Picking the wrong one is the most common way to lose an afternoon.
- The National Map Downloader — USGS's download tool for 3DEP elevation tiles, lidar point clouds and the topographic map series. Start here if you want files.
- 3DEP elevation image service — the seamless model as a public service that exports a GeoTIFF of any area. Best for programmatic access; it is what this site reads.
- DOGAMI Lidar Viewer — Oregon's lidar projects and derived products on a web map.
- USGS Topo basemap — rendered map tiles rather than data. Use it when you want a topographic backdrop and are not measuring anything.
Check what exists over your area first
Lidar projects differ in age and point density from one valley to the next. Search an address before you commit to a download.
Check lidar coverage →What public domain actually allows
Public domain is as permissive as it gets, and people routinely assume it is more restrictive than it is. With USGS 3DEP data you may:
- use it commercially, including in paid client work;
- redistribute it, in whole or in part;
- create and sell derived works — contour plans, maps, models, reports;
- modify, reproject, resample and combine it with other data.
A credit to the USGS 3D Elevation Program is appreciated. DOGAMI lidar products are published by the State of Oregon; credit “DOGAMI / Oregon Lidar Consortium” when you use them. Every file from Download Data carries the USGS credit for you.
USGS NAIP aerial photography is public domain too. The Download Data tool delivers it as a georeferenced color photo of your area, about 1 ft per pixel where available, with a world file for GIS and CAD.
Free data is not the same as a free answer
This is the part worth being straight about. The data costs nothing. Turning it into something you can act on costs time, whichever route you take.
Say you want 1-ft contours over one acreage near Bend. Working from raw data, that means finding the tiles that cover the parcel, downloading and merging them, reprojecting, converting between metric and US units where sources differ, clipping to the taxlot, generating contours, tidying the artifacts around water and missing data, and exporting to DXF for whoever asked. QGIS does all of it, and QGIS is free. It is still an afternoon the first time.
Every tool built on this data, including this one, exists to remove that afternoon. Know that this is the choice you are making, rather than assuming a paid tool has better data: in Oregon everybody is reading the same public elevation model.
Skip the GeoTIFFs
The same public data, no download, no GIS install. Pick an area or click a taxlot and get the output rather than the input.
Doing it yourself in QGIS
If you would rather own the workflow, the short version:
- Install QGIS. It is free, open source and the standard tool for this.
- Find your tiles in The National Map Downloader, or request a GeoTIFF of exactly your area from the 3DEP elevation image service.
- Mind the units and projections. USGS publishes 3DEP elevations in meters; DOGAMI's mosaics use Oregon Lambert coordinates with elevations in feet. Mixing them silently is the most common source of a result that looks almost right.
- Clip to your area before processing, not after. Contouring a whole county to keep one field is how an afternoon becomes a day.
- Use Raster → Extraction → Contour for contours, and the GDAL DEM tools for slope, aspect and hillshade.
The guide to downloading DEM data goes through this in more detail, including what DEM, DSM and DTM mean and which one you want.
Data sources and further reading
Everything described on this page comes from these sources. All of them are public and free to use.
Primary sources
- USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) — The national program behind the elevation data: what has been flown, the specifications it was flown to, and the seamless bare-earth DEM that every elevation on this site comes from, with 3.3 ft cells where lidar exists and about 33 ft elsewhere.
- 3DEP elevation image service — The seamless DEM as a public image service, exported as GeoTIFF for any area. The terrain tiles, downloads, contours and terrain statistics on this site are read from here.
- The National Map Downloader — USGS’s own download tool for 3DEP tiles, lidar point clouds and the topographic map series, with no area limit.
- 3DEP elevation index — Where each resolution of 3DEP data exists. This site uses it to report the share of a download that fell outside 3.3 ft lidar.
- DOGAMI lidar program — The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries and the Oregon Lidar Consortium, which flew most of Oregon’s lidar: project reports, coverage and the statewide mosaics.
- DOGAMI Lidar Viewer — DOGAMI’s web map of Oregon’s lidar projects and derived products.
- DOGAMI digital surface model mosaic — The statewide surface model (ground plus buildings and vegetation, 3 ft cells) that the object-height, surface-shadow and surface-viewshed tools read.
- DOGAMI lidar project status — Each lidar project’s footprint with its year, cell size, point density and reported accuracy.
Search, basemaps and terms
- Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) — The federal register of place names that the search box uses for towns, peaks, lakes and streams.
- Oregon GEO statewide address locator — Oregon’s statewide address geocoder, used for address search.
- USGS Topo basemap — The National Map’s topographic basemap, one of the backgrounds you can switch to.
- Esri World Imagery — The aerial basemap, used under Esri’s terms. No measurement is taken from it and it is not included in downloads.
- USGS copyrights and credits — Why USGS data is in the public domain, and how USGS asks to be credited.
Related guides
- Lidar coverage in Oregon — the lidar project behind any address.
- Download DEM data for Oregon — DEM, DSM and DTM explained, and how to get the raw files.
- Lidar data for Oregon — what lidar is and how Oregon was flown.
- Contour lines for Oregon — generating and exporting contours in every format.
- Custom topographic maps — how they differ from USGS quads.
Frequently asked questions
Is elevation data free in Oregon?
Yes. The USGS 3D Elevation Program publishes a seamless bare-earth elevation model — 3.3 ft per pixel where lidar exists, about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere — as a U.S. Government work in the public domain. DOGAMI publishes Oregon’s lidar mosaics and project data from the Oregon Lidar Consortium. There is no charge to download any of it.
Can I use free elevation data commercially?
USGS 3DEP elevation data and USGS maps are U.S. Government works in the public domain: you may use the results, including commercially. A credit to the USGS 3D Elevation Program is appreciated, and every file you download carries it. DOGAMI lidar products are published by the State of Oregon; credit "DOGAMI / Oregon Lidar Consortium". County taxlot boundaries are the assessor's GIS data, not surveys, and each county publishes its own disclaimer, shown with the parcel. The aerial basemap is from Esri and follows Esri's terms; it is not included in downloads.
What is the catch with free elevation data?
The data is genuinely free and genuinely good. The cost is in using it. Turning raw tiles into a contour map means finding the right tiles, merging them, reprojecting, converting between metric and US units where sources differ, clipping to your area, generating contours at your interval and exporting to a format your software reads. That is an afternoon in QGIS the first time. Tools built on this data charge for that work, not for the data.
Where can I download free DEM data for Oregon?
The National Map Downloader from USGS is the main route for 3DEP elevation tiles and lidar point clouds. DOGAMI’s Lidar Viewer covers Oregon’s lidar projects and statewide mosaics. The 3DEP elevation image service can also export a GeoTIFF of any area directly, which is what this site reads.
How accurate is the free data?
Accuracy is inherited from the USGS 3DEP source and the lidar project behind it, not asserted by this tool. Where lidar exists, at 3.3 ft per pixel, vertical accuracy is that of the project: individual Oregon Lidar Consortium projects report vendor RMSE of a few inches or less in DOGAMI’s project records; for example, Metro 2014 reports about a tenth of a foot. Outside the lidar work units the seamless DEM is about 33 ft per pixel and far coarser. Every download states what share of its area fell outside the lidar work units. Values are bare-earth elevations above NAVD 88 from a digital elevation model — they exclude buildings and tree canopy and are not a substitute for a surveyed elevation where a legal or engineering decision depends on it.
Do I need GIS software to use free elevation data?
To work with the raw files, yes — QGIS is free and capable. To get a result rather than a file, no. Oregon Elevation Tools reads the same public data and returns contours, slope, drainage, profiles and property reports in the browser.