Autodesk Raster Design

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Using DEM Data in Autodesk Raster Design

Digital elevation models (DEM) can provide an accurate, affordable representation of the
earth’s surface and are a valuable data source for civil engineers and other land use
professionals. Autodesk® Raster Design 2005 provides new power to display, analyze, and
edit DEM data* in the Autodesk project environment. If you have been relying on external
applications or outside agencies to prepare DEM files, Raster Design gives you the freedom
to process these files yourself and to explore creative options for the use of DEM data. This
paper explains what Raster Design’s DEM display and analysis tools can do, and shows
examples of their use.
The most direct way to display DEM data in a raster format is to color each pixel according
to its elevation, using a standard eight-bit (256 values) scale (see Figure 1). For a different
view of the surface, Autodesk Raster Design also enables you to code each pixel to the
degree of slope between it and adjacent pixels, or to the slope direction or aspect (see
Figure 2).

Figure 1: DEM elevation display

*
Autodesk Raster Design 2005 supports the DEM data format as defined by the United States Geological Survey
(USGS). Other DEM formats may require testing to determine whether they are fully, partially, or not supported.

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 Using DEM Data in Autodesk Raster Design

Figure 2: DEM slope display

The slope view of the surface can be useful in land use planning because it helps you to
classify regions of acceptable or unacceptable slope for a project. Depending on whether
you are planning a shopping center or a ski area, you can alter your display to highlight the
areas with slopes of a certain range.
The aspect view of the surface colors pixels based on their slope direction; all areas that
slope in the same direction have the same color (see Figure 3). You can use aspect views to
analyze watershed regions, sunlight exposure, and other environmental factors. For
example, if you are planning fire prevention strategies in a forested area, you can use
aspect views with wind direction data to visualize how a fire could spread under the
influence of winds from a certain direction.

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 Using DEM Data in Autodesk Raster Design

Figure 3: DEM aspect display

Tuning the Color Map

The key to matching the DEM display to your requirements is in learning how to use
Autodesk Raster Design’s color map. This is where you control the data interpretation and
display in detail. First, you create a palette of colors to display the range of elevation, slope,
or aspect values. Although 256 colors are available, most color map palettes contain
between 8 and 20 colors, depending on the granularity required in the display.
The next step is to decide how to distribute the DEM values across the colors in the palette
based on the particulars of the terrain and your region of interest. An equal distribution is
the most common, in which the range of values is divided equally among the palette colors.
For example, if the total elevation range is 5,000 feet and your palette has 10 colors, each
color spans 500 feet. This approach works well if your data values are distributed fairly
evenly across the full 5,000-foot range.
Other available distributions assign color ranges based on how data values are distributed
across the full range. A quantile distribution allocates an approximately equal number of
data values to each color. Using the previous example, if half your values ranged between
3,000 and 4,000, five of the colors would be assigned to this range. A standard deviation
distribution creates bands based on standard deviations above and below the average data

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 Using DEM Data in Autodesk Raster Design

value. The result is similar to that of a quantile distribution, but it’s more sensitive to the
pattern of data distribution. Bands have smaller value ranges around the average data value
and wider ranges at the extreme ends of the data set. The final method of distributing
values is a custom strategy in which you can manually set the range for each band, based
on any considerations, with or without reference to mathematical distribution formulas.
Another useful setting on the DEM color map is transparency, which enables you to
selectively display the value ranges of interest. For example, on a map of slope data, you
could choose to display only the areas with slopes of less than 10 percent. This display could
be used to quickly identify areas of interest for agriculture or other development.
After you display DEM data with a given color map, you can further process the data in
Autodesk Raster Design to view it in different ways. Hill shading enables you to use a pre-
defined light source location and create shadows in the terrain (see Figure 4).
The resulting display emphasizes the 3D shape of the land. You can add vertical
exaggeration to hill shading for emphasis. Vertical exaggeration multiplies all values by a
standard amount, clarifying trends in the data, which can be especially useful if the original
data has little topographic relief. Another postprocessing effect is blending, which softens
the boundaries between data bands (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Hill shading and blending

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 Using DEM Data in Autodesk Raster Design

Figure 5 shows the color map panel, on which you can conveniently set up a color map or
revise an existing one.

Figure 5: Palette Color Map Definition dialog box

After you have configured a color map, you can easily reuse it for other DEM data files, or
use it as a base for alternative displays.

Conclusion
With the addition of DEM file-handling capabilities, Autodesk Raster Design 2005 provides
support for a wide range of land design and analysis tasks. Analyzing DEM data in the
Autodesk project environment greatly increases productivity. Applying elevation, slope, or
aspect color mapping into false color images helps in dealing with land use, land cover, and
planning issues.

Autodesk is a registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and other countries. All other brand names, product names, or
trademarks belong to their respective holders. © 2004 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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