The University will receive $799,200 in the form of a research grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce, according to a press release from the office of senator Dick Durbin.

The grant is specifically being granted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a part of the Department of Commerce, in an effort to continue the University’s development of a high-resolution digital elevation model of the Earth’s surface. The research, conducted by The Illinois Height Modernization Program, or the ILHMP, has been funded for its first two years of existence. According to the press release, the new grant will fund the Program’s project for the next four years.

The grant will also allow the program to share its data with “governmental entities,” said in the press release.