Elevation Models for Reproducible Evaluation of Terrain Representation – Multiscale Models

This is a set of three multiscale elevation models, each consisting of a set of elevation grids, centered on the same geographic location, with increasing cell sizes and spatial extents. The centers are Gore Range, Colorado, USA; Valdez, Alaska, USA; Churfirsten, Switzerland. The elevation data is from a variety of sources. For the United States, the National Elevation Dataset (NED) by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was used, which itself combines data created with a variety of techniques such as LiDAR and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR). Data from www.viewfinderpanoramas.org was used for areas outside the USA and at small scales. The size of each grid is 1500×1500 height samples for the Gore Range and Valdez models and 2500×1500 height values for the Churfirsten model. The elevation models are available in georeferenced GeoTIFF and Esri ASCII file formats.

When using these elevation models in an academic publication, please cite the following article, which describes the process and rationale for compiling these models:

Kennelly, P. J., Patterson, T., Jenny, B., Huffman, D. P., Marston, B. E., Bell, S. and Tait, A. M. (2021). Elevation models for reproducible evaluation of terrain representation. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 48:1, 63–77. DOI: 10.1080/15230406.2020.1830856