{"id":2960865,"date":"2026-03-24T10:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2960865"},"modified":"2026-03-24T10:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:16:14","slug":"lidar-updates-to-world-elevation-layers-arcgis-living-atlas-march-2026","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/announcements\/lidar-updates-to-world-elevation-layers-arcgis-living-atlas-march-2026","title":{"rendered":"Lidar Updates to World Elevation Layers | ArcGIS Living Atlas \u2013 March 2026"},"author":4501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23341,37101,22931],"tags":[30511,772092,781028,630691],"industry":[],"product":[421922,36951,36581,36551,36561,36861,36991],"class_list":["post-2960865","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analytics","category-announcements","category-imagery","tag-dtm","tag-linz-new-zealand","tag-swisstopo-switzerland","tag-usgs-3dep","product-arcgis","product-image-server","product-arcgis-living-atlas","product-arcgis-online","product-arcgis-pro","product-api-rest","product-arcgis-desktop"],"acf":{"short_description":"In March 2026, elevation layers are updated with lidar derived data for Switzerland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand and United States.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/livingatlas.arcgis.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World<\/a> provides foundational elevation layers and tools to support analysis and visualization across the ArcGIS system. These layers are updated quarterly with high\u2011resolution elevation data from federal agencies, open data sources, and the Community Maps Program. Esri delivers these datasets as ready\u2011to\u2011use services that\u00a0benefit\u00a0the GIS community and extend the use of elevation data in new and innovative ways.<\/p>\n<p>In this release, World Elevation layers \u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/home\/item.html?id=58a541efc59545e6b7137f961d7de883\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Terrain<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/home\/item.html?id=c753e5bfadb54d46b69c3e68922483bc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TopoBathy<\/a> \u2014 have been updated with the following high\u2011resolution digital terrain models (DTMs):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Swisstopo\u2019s 50\u2011centimeter lidar\u2011derived DTMs (swissALTI3D) covering Switzerland and Liechtenstein. This update is based on the latest six\u2011year lidar survey completed in 2025 and replaces the previous version of the dataset.<\/li>\n<li>Land Information New Zealand\u2019s (LINZ) 1\u2011meter lidar\u2011derived DTMs add approximately <strong>1,400<\/strong><strong>\u202fsquare kilometers<\/strong>\u00a0(~540\u202fsquare miles) of new coverage for New\u202fZealand, bringing total coverage to approximately\u00a0<strong>232,550<\/strong><strong>\u202fsquare kilometers<\/strong>\u00a0(~89,800\u202fsquare miles).<\/li>\n<li>Expanded coverage of USGS 3DEP 1\u2011meter lidar\u2011derived DTMs across the conterminous United States. Approximately <strong>20,000<\/strong><strong>\u202fsquare kilometers<\/strong>\u00a0(~7,700\u202fsquare miles) of new coverage have been added in this release.<\/li>\n<li>The latest USGS 1\/3\u2011arc\u2011second (~10\u202fmeters) seamless DEM dataset, providing full coverage of the 48 conterminous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories.<\/li>\n<li>The latest USGS 1\u2011arc\u2011second (~30\u202fmeters) seamless DEM dataset for the conterminous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Let\u2019s explore a few examples that highlight the improvements.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2960912,"id":2960912,"title":"BernerAlpenSwitzerland","filename":"BernerAlpenSwitzerland.gif","filesize":3639113,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland.gif","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/announcements\/lidar-updates-to-world-elevation-layers-arcgis-living-atlas-march-2026\/berneralpenswitzerland","alt":"Haut de Cry, Switzerland depicted using the latest swissALTI3D 50-centimeter data compared with the previous version","author":"4501","description":"","caption":"Haut de Cry, Switzerland \u2014 a mountain in the Bernese Alps overlooking the Rh\u00f4ne Valley in the canton of Valais, depicted using the latest swissALTI3D 50-centimeter data compared with the previous version","name":"berneralpenswitzerland","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2960865,"date":"2026-03-20 02:26:43","modified":"2026-03-24 17:12:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/gif","type":"image","subtype":"gif","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1898,"height":1177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland-213x200.gif","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland.gif","medium-width":421,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland.gif","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":476,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland.gif","large-width":1742,"large-height":1080,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland-1536x953.gif","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":953,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland.gif","2048x2048-width":1898,"2048x2048-height":1177,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland-750x465.gif","card_image-width":750,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland-1742x1080.gif","wide_image-width":1742,"wide_image-height":1080}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BernerAlpenSwitzerland.gif"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2960911,"id":2960911,"title":"OrouaRiverNZ","filename":"OrouaRiverNZ1.gif","filesize":3349146,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1.gif","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/announcements\/lidar-updates-to-world-elevation-layers-arcgis-living-atlas-march-2026\/orouarivernz1","alt":"Oroua River, New Zealand depicted using LINZ\u2019s lidar derived 1-meter compared with 24-meter WorldDEM4Ortho","author":"4501","description":"","caption":"Oroua River, New Zealand \u2013 a section of Oroua River northeast of Kimbolton, shown using LINZ\u2019s 1-meter lidar derived DTM compared with 24-meter WorldDEM4Ortho","name":"orouarivernz1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2960865,"date":"2026-03-20 02:26:35","modified":"2026-03-24 17:11:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/gif","type":"image","subtype":"gif","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1898,"height":1177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1-213x200.gif","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1.gif","medium-width":421,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1.gif","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":476,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1.gif","large-width":1742,"large-height":1080,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1-1536x953.gif","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":953,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1.gif","2048x2048-width":1898,"2048x2048-height":1177,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1-750x465.gif","card_image-width":750,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1-1742x1080.gif","wide_image-width":1742,"wide_image-height":1080}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OrouaRiverNZ1.gif"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2960910,"id":2960910,"title":"BowlOfFire","filename":"BowlOfFire.gif","filesize":3109349,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire.gif","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/announcements\/lidar-updates-to-world-elevation-layers-arcgis-living-atlas-march-2026\/bowloffire","alt":"Bowl of Fire, Nevada, USA depicted using USGS 3DEP 10-meter data compared with the previous 10-meter dataset","author":"4501","description":"","caption":"Bowl of Fire, Nevada, USA \u2013 an area featuring red Aztec sandstone formations depicted using USGS 3DEP 10-meter data compared with the previous 10-meter dataset","name":"bowloffire","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2960865,"date":"2026-03-20 02:26:27","modified":"2026-03-23 22:04:39","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/gif","type":"image","subtype":"gif","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1898,"height":1177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire-213x200.gif","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire.gif","medium-width":421,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire.gif","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":476,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire.gif","large-width":1742,"large-height":1080,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire-1536x953.gif","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":953,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire.gif","2048x2048-width":1898,"2048x2048-height":1177,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire-750x465.gif","card_image-width":750,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire-1742x1080.gif","wide_image-width":1742,"wide_image-height":1080}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BowlOfFire.gif"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>These data updates are expected to roll out to the World Elevation tiled services, including Elevation 3D (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/home\/item.html?id=7029fb60158543ad845c7e1527af11e4\">Terrain3D<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/home\/item.html?id=0c69ba5a5d254118841d43f03aa3e97d\">TopoBathy3D<\/a>) and\u00a0Hillshade (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/home\/item.html?id=1b243539f4514b6ba35e7d995890db1d\">World Hillshade<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/home\/item.html?id=428539ef9cab4017b69d15a40a9ee98b\">World Hillshade (Dark)<\/a>), by the end of the next quarter.<\/p>\n<p>To view the coverage extents of each source comprising World Elevation services, explore the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/home\/item.html?id=3af669838f594b378f90c10f98e46a7f\">World Elevation Coverage Map<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can help improve these services by contributing high-resolution elevation data to <a href=\"https:\/\/livingatlas.arcgis.com\/en\/participate\/\">Living Atlas of the World<\/a>. To participate and learn more, check out the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/Cascade\/index.html?appid=f5818ab82666401b8e4a06632e3f51fb\">Esri Community Maps for Elevation<\/a>\u00a0program.<\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":4501,"user_firstname":"Rajinder","user_lastname":"Nagi","nickname":"Rajinder Nagi","user_nicename":"rajnagi","display_name":"Rajinder Nagi","user_email":"rnagi@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:16:05","user_description":"Rajinder has more than 20 years of experience in GIS and Remote Sensing. In his current role, he leads the community elevation program at Esri and has wide experience in cartographic visualization, image processing, databases and geo-processing. Rajinder has developed a multi-directional hillshade (esriurl.com\/NextGenHillshade) algorithm to improve terrain visualization in Esri basemaps. He has also developed a fusion technique (esriurl.com\/NAGIfusion) which maintains details and colors when integrating colored rasters with hillshades. Rajinder holds a Master of Science degree in Geoinformatics and a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban &amp; Regional Planning.","user_avatar":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/RNagi_Profile.jpg' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"related_articles":[{"ID":2840012,"post_author":"4501","post_date":"2025-06-24 12:31:41","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-24 19:31:41","post_content":"","post_title":"Lidar derived high resolution data updates to Living Atlas World Elevation Layers (June 2025)","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"lidar-derived-high-resolution-data-updates-to-living-atlas-world-elevation-layers-june-2025","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-24 12:31:41","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-24 19:31:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2840012","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2818332,"post_author":"4501","post_date":"2025-06-04 04:00:44","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-04 11:00:44","post_content":"","post_title":"Esri's World Elevation 3D and Hillshade Layers Updates including Maxar's Precision3D (June 2025)","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"esris-world-elevation-3d-and-hillshade-updates-including-maxars-precision3d-june-2025","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-03 14:57:19","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-03 21:57:19","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2818332","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2941897,"post_author":"4501","post_date":"2025-10-05 23:00:31","post_date_gmt":"2025-10-06 06:00:31","post_content":"","post_title":"New Lidar Coverage in World Elevation Layers \u2013 Oct 2025","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-lidar-coverage-in-world-elevation-layers-oct-2025","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-10-06 08:40:54","post_modified_gmt":"2025-10-06 15:40:54","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2941897","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2952323,"post_author":"4501","post_date":"2025-12-19 10:10:56","post_date_gmt":"2025-12-19 18:10:56","post_content":"","post_title":"New Lidar Updates in World Elevation Layers \u2013 Dec 2025","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-lidar-updates-in-world-elevation-layers-dec-2025","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-12-19 10:10:56","post_modified_gmt":"2025-12-19 18:10:56","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2952323","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"show_article_image":false,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/elevation_card_march2026.gif","wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lidar Updates to World Elevation Layers | ArcGIS Living Atlas \u2013 March 2026 Lidar Updates to World Elevation Layers | ArcGIS Living Atlas \u2013 March\u00a02026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the March\u00a02026 Lidar updates to ArcGIS World Elevation layers, featuring new USGS 3DEP, swissALTI3D, LINZ terrain models, and DEM coverage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/announcements\/lidar-updates-to-world-elevation-layers-arcgis-living-atlas-march-2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lidar Updates to World Elevation Layers | ArcGIS Living Atlas \u2013 March 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the March\u00a02026 Lidar updates to ArcGIS World Elevation layers, featuring new USGS 3DEP, swissALTI3D, LINZ terrain models, and DEM coverage.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/announcements\/lidar-updates-to-world-elevation-layers-arcgis-living-atlas-march-2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArcGIS Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ESRI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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