Difference between revisions of "Category:Digital Elevation Models"

Satellite Image with DEM Overlay. The image shows a part of the Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua with SRTM height contour data.

The digital height models in WindPRO are mainly based on open internet resources. The best globally-available DHM source remains the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data, but more countries (beyond the US) are releasing national data under free-data licenses. Typically these have a much better resolution than SRTM - and it is often recommended to use local sources for DEM modelling - if these are available.

Considerations

When using the remote sensing digital height models, you must manually consider the accuracy of the dataset used. This is especially important in the vicinity of the wind farm and other associated objects such as meteorological masts, noise and shadow receptors and photomontage viewpoints. Typically – when applying remote sensing DHMs - the height contour lines must be validated against a local topographical map. In addition, many of the wiki-pages in here provide links to further documentation and an overview of vertical and horizontal acurracy.

What type of elevation model - DEM, DSM and DTM

For wind energy applications, it is important to undserstand if the model is a DEM, DSM or a DTM. In windPRO we use the following abbriations when dealing with DEM's.

  -  DEM (Digital Elevation Model) - Is often used as a generic term for both DSM's and DTM's. 
  -  DSM (Digital Surface Model) - Is a surface representation with objects.
  -  DTM (Digital Terrain Model) - Is the bare earth representation without objects.