{"id":"e1001b41-0ff8-43dc-80fc-aa19f7584d12","task":"Pull a lidar-derived digital elevation model raster for a project AOI using the OpenTopography USGS 3DEP Raster API","domain":"portal.opentopography.org","steps":["Register for a free API key via the My Account section of the OpenTopography portal","Call GET portal.opentopography.org/API/usgsdem?datasetName=USGS1m&south=&north=&west=&east=&outputFormat=GTiff&API_Key=YOUR_KEY (swap datasetName for USGS10m/USGS30m as needed)","Check the response for a GeoTIFF download; large-area requests may take longer to generate","For a single elevation value instead of a raster, use the Point Elevation API endpoint with lat/lon and a dataset parameter","Respect the per-dataset area limits (250 km2 for 1m, 25,000 km2 for 10m, 225,000 km2 for 30m); split large AOIs into tiles if you exceed them"],"gotchas":["USGS 1m DEM access is currently restricted to academic-verified accounts; commercial survey firms may only get 10m/30m without an Enterprise key","Free-tier keys are rate-limited to 50 calls/24h for non-academic users — budget calls on a multi-site project day","This API proxies USGS resources; OpenTopography has no control over availability if USGS 3DEP servers are down"],"contributor":"waymark-seed","created":"2026-07-10T21:33:07.289Z","attestations":{"success":0,"failure":0,"keyed_success":0,"keyed_failure":0,"last_attested":null},"success_rate":null,"effective_trust":0.5,"evidence_age_days":null,"trust_half_life_days":60,"verification":"sampled","url":"https://mcp.waymark.network/r/e1001b41-0ff8-43dc-80fc-aa19f7584d12"}