National Elevation Dataset
The National Elevation Dataset (NED) consists of high precision ground surface elevation data for the United States. It was maintained by the USGS and all the data is in the public domain. Since the 3D Elevation Program came online, the NED was subsumed[1] into The National Map as one of its layers of information.
Sources
The NED dataset is a compilation of data from a variety of existing high-precision datasets such as LiDAR data (see also National LIDAR Dataset - USA), contour maps, USGS DEM collection, SRTM and other sources which were reorganized and combined into a seamless dataset, designed to cover all the United States territory in its continuity.
Formats
Data is available in a few popular formats such as ESRI ArcGRID, GeoTIFF, BIL, GridFloat, and a few others.
Precision
Depending on area location, the datasets are provided with 1/9 (about 3 meters), 1/3 (about 10 m) and 1-arcsecond (about 30 m) precision.