Contours Question

“7. As a DEM user, how will using elevation data in GeoTIFF format be different?
Both formats give the user an array of elevation data, so basically there is no difference. However, it may be useful to refer to the USGS DEM format specifications and the GeoTIFF specifications. Since most software do not explain the process for conversion from DEM to GeoTIFF or vice versa it is important to synchronize the datum and projections of all data.”
http://glcf.umd.edu/data/srtm/questions.shtml#elevation

Hey guys,

to clarify, the top elevation export option (“geotiff”) in the screenshot @SolarBarn linked is a 3-band (RGB) coloured tiff which should look exactly the same as the elevation layer does on the DroneDeploy data page, but also has geographic metadata added so that you can import it into other applications like qgis or arcgis and see it properly georeferenced. this is a screenshot of what a “geotiff” elevation export looks like:

the “raw elevation values” elevation export you see a couple below that in the list is another georeferenced tiff file, but this time it is a single-band (32-bit) file where the pixel values provide the elevation (this is the raw information that was originally used to generate the shaded-relief map you see on the data page); you can import this data into qgis (or several other pieces of software) and generate things like contours or make your own shaded relief maps etc. it’s not really easy / useful to visualise the raw elevation values tiff export in something like preview (as it’s not an RGB or even a properl grayscale image), but if you do it looks something like this:

hope that helps explain things - let me know if you need any more info

jeremy

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