Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) is the most efficient way of developing topographic information which is necessary for land use planning, flood mitigation, and transportation infrastructure.
This would allow citizens to have more confidence in government agencies which frequently use this topographic data, such as: FEMA, USGS, NRCS, USACOE, and other public agencies.
This improvement in the quality of data would benefit citizens and businesses that are effected financially and environmentally by the determination of floodplains and wetlands.
While Lidar is a more cost effective way of mapping, it can be expensive due to the contracting processes. To this we recommend that the President order the military to fly Lidar missions to process data to a minimum of 2ft topography.