Italian Elevation Model - TINITALY

The DTM model for Italy – Coverage for the Italian Territory

TINITALY/1.1 - at the Strait of Messina. Left is 10m grid resolution and right 20m grid resolution.

The TINITALY model for Italy – at work at the wind farms just north of Randazzo, Sicily, Italy. 10 m grid and 25 m contour lines - the model shown covers an area of 10km x 10km.

Introduction

The Italian Elevation Model - TINITALY - is a seamless digital elevation model that covers the territory of Italy. It is produced by Tarquini et al - using a Triangular Irregular Network (TIN) approach. The model was first presented in 2007 and updated to a version 1.1 in 2023; it is built from separate elevation models from each of the administrative regions of Italy, please consult (Tarquini, 2007) for further details on data sources. Native grid resolution is 10m and this model is released from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology / Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). In windPRO, we provide grid resolutions of 10m and 20m (resampled) for the version 1.1. As a part of the TINITALY dataset evaluations (Tarquini et al, 2017), the authors reported the TINITALY DEM to outperform other sources:

"The TINITALY DEM is currently the DEM having the highest resolution and the lowest error (on average) covering the whole Italian territory.... and it represents, at a country or (trans-)regional scale, a substantial step forward with respect to global DEMs such as the ASTER DEM and the SRTM DEM...".

Dataset Overview

• Spatial Coverage: Italian territory
• Grid Resolution:
  Version 1.0: 10 m grid
  Version 1.1: 10m and 20m (in windPRO)
• Data-type: Digital Terrain Model (DTM) - based on multiple, heteorogeneous local data sources
• Version: Version 1.0: Data downloaded in September 2020. Version 1.1: Data downloaded in June 2023.
• Vertical Accuracy (RMSE):
  • In general: TINITALY: <3.5m (average) and 0.1m-6.0m (range)
    - global products have SRTM: 16m and Aster: 7m-50m, see (Tarquini et al, 2007) and (Tarquini et al, 2012)
  • At Mount Etna: TINITALY: 1.98m
    - global products have SRTM: 7.78m and Aster: 9.36m.
    - this local evaluation were against LIDAR ground truth data, see (Tarquini et al, 2012)
• No data value: -9999 (in original data)

Usage Notes

• Version 1.0: In the original TINITALY geotiff data, some zero-elevation grid points and erroneous TIN-interpolations that were seen to be present in the data-tiles located in the mountaneous regions to the north. Typically they were found in proximity to the border or just outside the Italian territory. These erroneous values have been removed and are replaced with void-values by EMD (September 2020).
• Version 1.0 and 1.1: Since the data are generated/interpolated from a TIN model, we recommend that you check contour lines against a topographical map - such as the OpenTopoMap. OpenTopoMap is avaialble as a Dynamic Map of windPRO.

Availability from within WindPRO

The data are available directly from within windPRO in 10-meter grid resolution. The data can be accessed from the online-services in the following objects:

• Line Object (with purpose to height contour lines)
• Elevation Grid Object

License and Attribution

TINITALY is published with a CC-BY-4.0 license. Please use one of the following attributions when using this dataset:

Version 1.0:
Tarquini S., Isola I., Favalli M., Battistini A. (2007) TINITALY, a digital elevation model of Italy with a 10 m-cell size (Version 1.0)
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). https://doi.org/10.13127/TINITALY/1.0. License: CC-BY-4.0.
Data processing and distribution through EMD and windPRO. 

Version 1.1:
Tarquini S., I. Isola, M. Favalli, A. Battistini, G. Dotta (2023). TINITALY, a digital elevation model of Italy with a 10 meters cell size (Version 1.1). 
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). https://doi.org/10.13127/tinitaly/1.1. License: CC-BY-4.0.
Data processing and distribution through EMD and windPRO. 

Documentation / Litterature

1. (Tarquini et al, 2007): Tarquini S., I. Isola , M. Favalli , F. Mazzarini, M. Bisson, M.T. Pareschi, E. Boschi (2007). TINITALY/01: a new Triangular Irregular Network of Italy, Annals of Geophysics, 50, 407-425 - available here or here.
2. (Tarquini et al, 2012): Tarquini S., Vinci S., Favalli M., Doumaz F., Fornaciai A., Nannipieri L., (2012). Release of a 10-m-resolution DEM for the Italian territory: Comparison with global-coverage DEMs and anaglyph-mode exploration via the web, Computers & Geosciences , 38, 168-170. doi: doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2011.04.01 - available here in pre-print.
3. (Tarquini et al, 2017): Tarquini S., Nannipieri L., (2017) The 10 m-resolution TINITALY DEM as a trans-disciplinary basis for the analysis of the Italian territory: Current trends and new perspectives. Geomorphology, 281, 108-115. - available here or here in pre-print.

Acknowledgement

• Tarquini S., Isola I., Favalli M., Battistini A. and the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology are thanked for producing this digital elevation dataset – and disseminating it in the public domain and thus for aiding the development of renewable energy.

External Links

1. National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology / Istitutoi Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV): http://www.ingv.it/it/
2. TINITALY: http://tinitaly.pi.ingv.it/