Digital Elevation Model (DEM) IN G I S

(by J. D. Das, Dept. of Earthquake Engg, IIT Roorkee)

Adding a third dimension

In high relief areas variables such as altitude, aspect and slope strongly influence both human and
physical environments and developmentel activities.

 A 3D data model is therefore essential

use a Digital Terrain Model (DTM)

 Derive information on:

height (altitude), aspect and slope (gradient)

cut and fill calculations, alignments, reservoir volume etc.

watersheds (catchments)

solar radiation and hill shading

What is DEM?
DEM (Digital Elevation Model) = digital representation of a topographic surface (usually a raster or
regular grid of spot heights), no other information.

DTM or Digital Terrain Model = more generic term for any digital representation of a topographic
surface.

 set of regularly or irregularly spaced height values

 but, with other information about terrain surface

 ridge lines, spot heights, troughs, coast/shore lines, drainage lines, faults,
peaks, pits, passes, etc.

DEM is the simplest form of digital representation of topography and the most common, Resolution is a
critical parameter

Creating a DEM
From contour lines (digital or scanned), Scanning, raster to vector conversion + additional elevation
data. Algorithm is used to interpolate elevations at every grid point from the contour data
By photogrammetry (manually or automatically); extraction of elevation from photographs is confused
when the ground surface is obscured e.g. buildings, trees; DEMs from each source display characteristic
error artefacts

GRID model
A systematic grid, or raster, of spot heights at fixed mutual spaces is often used to describe terrain.

Elevation is assumed constant within each cell of grid i.e. the area represented by each cell is shown as a
flat area in the model. Thus small cells detail terrain more accurately than large cells.

The grid model is most suitable for describing random variations in terrain, whereas the systematic
linear structures can easily disappear or be deformed.

Elevation values are stored in a matrix. Different interpolation techniques are used to generate an
elevation grid from source data such as points, contour lines, and break lines. When elevation data are
organized in a grid structure, the matrix will give direct access to neighboring cells. Thus, the
interpolation of the z value to the new x and y points is quite simple based on linear interpolation.

DEM generation from contour lines

Generating DEM from contour lines is a prime method to get grid DEM because of its low cost and the
convenience to get contour maps. Contour lines and DEM are both a representation of the same real
topography. They just correspond to different ground surface sampling strategies as topographic
profiles or grid sampling. Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) is one technique for DEM generation.

Several ways of building a TIN are possible: from a set of irregularly-spaced points; from points in a
regular fashion - a lattice; from digitized contours as line features

Input consists of contour lines in vector format, which can be dynamically rasterized with a resolution as
a function of both the input map scale and the distance between the neighboring contour pair.
Accuracy of DEM relies on the accuracy of Digital contour map and implemented interpolation
techniques.

Delaunay Triangulation is the mostly used method for interpolation and conversion of contours into
TIN (Triangulated Irregular Network)

TIN Model
TIN's are sets of adjacent, non-overlapping triangles computed from irregularly spaced points with x/y
coordinates and z-values. TIN models are used to provide better control over terrain slope, aspect,
surface areas, volumetric and cut-fill analysis and generating contours.

The TIN's vector data structure is based on irregularly-spaced point, line and polygon data interpreted as
mass points and break-lines and stores the topological relationship between triangles and their adjacent
neighbors. Sample points are connected by lines to form triangles. Each triangle's surface would be
defined by the elevations of the three corner points.

Delaunay Triangulation

A Delaunay triangulation for a set of points P in a plane is a triangulation such that no points of the set
is inside the circumcircle of any triangle.

The Voronoi diagram for three points

Each Lij is perpendicular bisector of the line connecting the pair of points

Given a set of n points, the Voronoi diagram consists of all the Voronoi polygons of these points.

The vertices of the Voronoi diagram are called Voronoi points and its segments are called Voronoi
edges.

One is the dual graph of the other. Dual graphs in mathmatical graph
theory means: Both hold the same information content!

Each vertex of the Voronoï diagram is the center of a circumcircle of

a triangle.

Each edge is on the perpendicular bisector of an edge of a triangle.

Given a set of points, calculate a triangulation maintaining equi-angularity (Delaunay triangulation)

It maximizes the minimum angle of all the angles of the triangles in the triangulation.

Delaunay triangulation is a proximal method that satisfies the requirement that a circle drawn through
the three nodes of a triangle will contain no other node. The triangles are as equi-angular as possible,
and every point on the surface is as close as possible to a node.

This TIN model then can be easily converted into DEM by creating a raster surface using spatial analyst
tool in Arc GIS.
Contours are a common source of digital elevation data. For application of interpolation techniques
contours have been changed into point feature data. In general all the vertices or node points of the
contour lines are used as mass points for conversion.

Various spatial interpolation techniques e.g. IDW, SPLINE, KRIGING, NATURAL NEIGHBOR are used for
generating surface from the contour lines and TIN model. During interpolation, our goal is to create a
surface that models the sampled phenomenon in the best possible way.

Generation of DEM from satellite imagery

DEM can be produced by automatic DEM extraction from stereo image scenes acquired by the satellite.

Indian Remote Sensing satellite CARTOSAT-1 was launched on 5th May 2005 generates Cartosat-1 Stereo
Orthokit data for creation of DEM. CARTOSAT-1 is a stereoscopic Earth observation satellite in a sun-
synchronous orbit. This kind of mounting of cameras on the satellite provides near simultaneous
imaging of the same area from two different angles, which facilitates the generation of accurate three-
dimensional maps. The images taken by CARTOSAT-1 cameras are compressed, encrypted, formatted
and transmitted to the ground stations. The images are reconstructed from the data received at the
ground stations.

It has a payload consisting of two cameras – one near nadir looking (-5 deg) and the other forward
looking (+26 deg) providing the real time stereo data along the track with spatial resolution of 2.5m. In
Stereo Orthokit product, image data from both cameras i.e. FORE and AFT is provided along with their
corresponding Rational Polynomial Coefficients (RPCs).
The Cartosat-1 stereo pair data along with the Rational Polynomial Coefficients (RPCs) can be used to
generate Digital Elevation Model (DEM). RPC model in general is used to represent the imaging
geometry of Cartosat-1 which is expressed as a ratio of two cubic polynomials which are functions of
ground coordinates.

Feature selection in one of the scenes of a stereo-pair: Selected features should correspond to an
interesting phenomenon in the scene and/or the object space. Identification of the conjugate feature in
the other scene: This problem is known as the matching/correspondence problem within the
photogrammetric and computer vision communities.

Firstly a block file is created which includes image location, interior orientation and exterior orientation
information, GCPs, auto tie points, and ortho images.

Interior orientation is primarily used to transform the image pixel coordinate system to the image space
coordinate system. The relationship between the pixel coordinate system and the image space
coordinate system defined using the 2D affine transformation equations.

External sensor model information describes the position and angular orientation of each image as it
existed when the imagery was collected. The variables defining the position and orientation of an image
are referred to as the elements of exterior orientation. The positional elements of exterior orientation
include Xo, Yo, and Zo, which define the position of the perspective center O with respect to the ground
space coordinate system X, Y, Z. Zo is referred as the height of the sensor above sea level, which is
commonly defined by a datum
Transformation of Image pixel coordinate system to image space coordinate system

Errors in DEM
DEM data contains various types of errors which occur during generation and processing stages.
Generally it contains three types of errors and although all three types may be reduced in magnitude by
refinements in technique and precision, they cannot be completely eliminated.

Blunders : For DEM data, a blunder is a vertical error. Blunders are mistakes caused by misreading
contours, transposing numeric values, erroneous correlations, or careless observations.

Systematic Errors : Typical systematic errors include: vertical elevation shifts, either for the quadrangle
as a whole or for individual local areas or profiles.

Random Errors : These are of a purely random nature and are completely unpredictable. They result
from accidental and unknown combinations of causes beyond the control of the observer.