In the Name of God

Course Title:
GIS &RS Application in Water Resources Engineering

Lecture 7:Digital Elevation Map

Somayeh Sima

Fall Semester
1401-02
 Outline

◼ DTM/ DEM

◼ DSM

◼ Global DEMs

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 Digital Elevation/Terrain Models

◼ Terminologies:

◼ Digital Elevation Models (DEM)

◼ Digital Terrain Models (DTM)

( DTM is actually synonymous with a DEM)

◼ Digital Surface Models (DSM)

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 Digital Elevation/Terrain Models
◼ A digital elevation model is a bare-earth raster
grid referenced to a vertical datum.

◼ The built (power lines, buildings and towers) and natural (trees
and other types of vegetation) aren’t included in a DEM.

◼ Application of DEM:
◼ Hydrologic modelling. Hydrologists use DEMs to delineate watersheds,
calculate flow accumulation and flow direction.
◼ Terrain stability. Areas prone to avalanches are high slope areas with
sparse vegetation. This is useful when planning a highway or residential
subdivision.
◼ Soil mapping.

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 Digital Surface Models
Digital Surface Models (DSM):
◼ A DSM captures the natural and built features on the

Earth’s surface.

◼ Elevation of points is measured via a Lidar (Light

Detection and Ranging) system

◼ A DSM is useful in 3D modeling for telecommunications,

urban planning and aviation.
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 Digital Elevation/Terrain Models

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 DEM Data Sources
◼ Conversion of paper topo-maps
◼ Scanned, vectorized contour lines
◼ Airborne photogrammetry
◼ Ground surveying
◼ Airborne laser scanning
◼ Steroscopic or radar-based satellite imagery
◼ Space Shuttle topography mission

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 Basic elevation data
structures
◼ Vector (contour lines)

◼ Raster (digital elevation model –DEM)

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 Representing elevation:
Vector vs Raster
Vector contour lines Raster grid

With grids, you can perform several types of analysis that

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are impossible with contour lines
 Storage of raster DEM data

DEM as matrix of elevations with a uniform cell size

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 Digital Elevation Model
◼ A digital representation
of an elevation surface.

◼ Examples include a
(square) digital elevation
grid, triangular irregular
network, set of digital
line graph contours or
random points.

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 Scale in DEMs
◼ Scale determines spatial resolution (cell size)
◼ Depends on source data

◼ Resolution (cell size) determines use of DEM and

what features are visible

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 Resolution of DEMs

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 DEM Data Sources
◼ 30m DEMs from 1:25,000 scale maps
(Best resolution standardized data source available for the US)

◼ 3" DEMs from 1:250,000 scale maps

◼ 15" DEM for the US resampled from 3” DEM

◼ 30" DEM of the earth (GTOPO30)

1 arc sec ~30 m

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 GTOPO (global topography)
◼ Created in 1990s by USGS, UNEP, etc.

◼ 30 arc second pixels (about 1km at equator)

◼ Used for many applications

◼ Download from USGS Elevation Products

Information: https://lta.cr.usgs.gov/GTOPO30

Order: http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

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 GTOPO30 :
30” DEM of the Earth

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 SRTM
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
◼ From US NASA Space Shuttle Mission, May 2000
◼ It covered the earth from 54°S to 60°N latitude
◼ Early versions: void filled 90 meter pixels (Global)/30 meter pixels U.S
◼ New versions: void filled 30 meter pixels (Global)/
◼ Information:
◼ USGS:
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/usgs-eros-archive-digital-elevation-
shuttle-radar-topography-mission-srtm-non?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-
science_center_objects
◼ NASA JPL
https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/index.html

◼ Order: USGS EarthExplorer (EE) : http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov

NASA Earth data : https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search

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 SRTM
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

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 SRTM
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
◼ SRTM successfully collected radar data over 80% of the
Earth's land surface between 60° north and 56° south
latitude with data points posted every 1 arc-second
(approximately 30 meters).

Projection Geographic
Horizontal Datum WGS84
Vertical Datum EGM96 (Earth Gravitational Model 1996)
Vertical Units Meters
Spatial Resolution 1 arc-second for global coverage (~30 meters)
3 arc-seconds for global coverage (~90 meters)
Raster Size 1 degree tiles

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 SRTM 90m & 30m DEMs

https://apollomapping.com/wp-content/user_uploads/2015/01/SRTM90_vs_SRTM30.jpg
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 SRTM (30 m Dems)

SRTM DEM of Urmia Lake Area -Iran

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 NASADEM v.1 (2020)
◼ NASADEM data products at 1 arc second resolution was released on
Feb 2020.

◼ NASADEM extends the legacy of the Shuttle Radar Topography

Mission (SRTM) by improving the digital elevation model (DEM)
height accuracy and data coverage as well as providing additional
SRTM radar-related data products.

Reference: NASADEM Merged DEM Global 1 arc second - NASADEM_HGT NASA JPL (2020). NASADEM Merged DEM
Global 1 arc second V001 [Data set]. NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC.
https://doi.org/10.5067/MEaSUREs/NASADEM/NASADEM_HGT.001

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 Get NASAGDEM from Earth data
https://urs.earthdata.nasa.gov/home

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 Get NASAGDEM from Earth data

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 Get NASAGDEM from Earth data

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 Get NASAGDEM from Earth data

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 NASA DEM of Lake Urmia Basin

Format:
.hgt

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 NASA DEM of Lake Urmia Basin

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 ASTER GDEM
ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model
◼ The ASTER GDEM is funded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and
Industry (METI) of Japan and the United States National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA)

◼ The first version of the ASTER GDEM, released in June 2009, was
generated using stereo-pair images collected by the ASTER instrument
onboard Terra.

◼ ASTER GDEM coverage spans from 83 degrees north latitude to 83

degrees south, encompassing 99 percent of Earth's landmass.

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 ASTER GDEM
ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model
◼ ASTER is one of five instruments aboard NASA’s Terra
spacecraft (launched in 1999).

Information:
https://www.jspacesystems.or.jp/ersdac/GDEM/E/
1.html
Order: http://gdem.ersdac.jspacesystems.or.jp/
USGS EarthExplorer (EE)
http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov

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 ASTER GDEM
ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model
ASTER Name Resolution Release time
GDEM
versio
n
1 GDEM 001 3-arc-second (90 meters) 2009

2 GDEM 002 3-arc-second (90 meters) 2011

3 GDEM 003 1-arc-second (30 meters) 2019

3 ASTER Water Body 30 m (Global) 2019

Dataset (ASTWBD)
Over rugged mountainous terrain the ASTER version 2 data set can be a more accurate
representation of the ground than the SRTM elevation model (Rexer & Hirt, 2014).
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 ASTER GDEM
ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model

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 Global digital elevation models (DEMs)
Last Estimated
Dataset Horizontal Collection
version Method Vertical
Resolution (m) Period
release Accuracy (m)

ASTER GDEM V3 Aug 2019 30 17 2011

Photogrammetry
AW3D30 Apr 2020 30 5 2006–2011
MERIT DEM 2017 90 Computational 12 2007–2017

TanDEM-X DEM Late 2018 90 Interferometry <10 2011–2015

SRTM DEM V3 2014 30 synthetic 9 2000

aperture radar
NASADEM Feb 2020 30 <5 2000

• High vertical accuracy

• Best accuracy over flat areas
• More robust to land cover & slope change

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 Uses of DEM
◼ Determine terrain features:
◼ Slope, aspect, spot elevations
◼ Contour lines
◼ Flow accumulation
◼ Flow distance
◼ Watershed boundary, drainage networks,
stream channels, etc.

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 Digital Elevation/Terrain Analysis

◼ The process of quantitatively describing

terrain in known as digital terrain analysis
(DTA).

◼ DTA is a set of techniques used to derive

terrain parameters and features from
topography.

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 Use of DEM for hydrological
analysis
◼ Basins/Watersheds : drainage
areas for water resources
management
◼ Sub-basin/Sub-Watersheds/
Catchments: subdivision of
Basin into elementary
drainage areas by physical
rules
◼ Digital Elevation Model:
land surface terrain grid cells

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 Errors in DEMs
◼ Most common variety are “sinks”, “flat” and “spires”
◼ Sinks (or pits) and spires (or dams) occur when a very low
or high elevation, relative to surrounding cells, is
introduced. They appear as tightly packed contours
developed from DEM.

◼ Flat areas are continuous areas with equal elevation.

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 Sinks and Peaks
Spire/Peak Pit/Sink

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 Errors in DEMs

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 Correcting Sinks and Spires
◼ Sinks prevent proper hydrologic modeling
functions in GIS.

◼ DEM creation results in artificial sinks or pits in

the landscape.

◼ A pit is a set of one or more cells which has no

downstream cells around it.

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 Correcting Sinks and Spires
◼ Unless these pits are filled, they become sinks
and isolate portions of the watershed.

◼ Pit filling is first thing done on a DEM.

◼ Most GIS have a “Fill” function which looks for

sinks and fills them, or looks for spires and
removes them.

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 Correcting Sinks and Spires
A natural sink?
By default, this “sink” is removed, whether or not it is real.

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 Correcting Sinks and Spires
◼ In ArcMap Sink filling can be done using the Fill tool:

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 Correcting Sinks and Spires
◼ The z-limit specifies the maximum difference allowed between the
depth of a sink and the pour point and determines which sinks will be
filled and which will remain untouched. The z-limit is not the
maximum depth to which a sink will be filled.
◼ For example, consider a sink area where the pour point is 1210 m in
elevation, and the deepest point within the sink is 1204 m (a
difference of 6 m). If the z-limit is set to 8, this particular sink will be
filled. However, if the z-limit is set to 4, this sink will not be filled
since the depth of this sink exceeds this difference and would be
considered a valid sink.
◼ All sinks that are less than the z-limit, and lower than their lowest
adjacent neighbor, will be filled to the height of their pour points.

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 Correcting Sinks and Spires

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 Sink Removal Algorithms
◼ Smoothing filters run over the entire DEM

◼ Single sink removal techniques (may require

iteration)

◼ Multiple sink removal techniques

◼ The first step is to identify location of sinks

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 Sinks and Peaks
◼ A sink is a cell with an undefined drainage direction;
no cells surrounding it are lower.
◼ The pour point is the boundary cell with the lowest
elevation for the contributing area of a sink. If the sink
were filled with water, this is the point where water
would pour out.

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 Sink Removal Algorithm:
Single Cell
◼ Step1: Find a sink that consists
of a single pixel (pixel in red).

◼ Step2:Assign to this pixel the

smallest value found among its
8 neighborhood pixels (Pixel in
green).

◼ Step3: repeat step 1 & 2 till an

outlet can be find.

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 Pit Removal Algorithm:
Multiple Cells
◼ Step1: Find first sink (pixel in black).

◼ Step2: find all sinks that contribute

to this sink (colored pixels)

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 Pit Removal Algorithm:
Multiple Cells
◼ Step3:Determine the outlet for this sink
and determine the pixel just before the
outlet (pixel in blue). Keep the value of
this pixel in mind (value=3).

◼ Step4: To all pixels that contribute to

this sink and which have a smaller
value than the value kept in mind in the
previous step, assign the smallest
value(black pixels).

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 Effect of pit filling on elevation

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 Summary
▪ DEM :
▪ DEMs from topographic maps
▪ Global DEMs
▪ GTOPO
▪ ASTER
▪ SRTM
▪ NASA DEM

▪ DEM filling

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