What is a digital elevation model (DEM)?
A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a representation of the bare ground (bare earth) topographic surface of the Earth excluding trees, buildings, and any other surface objects.
DEMs are created from a variety of sources. USGS DEMs used to be derived primarily from topographic maps. Those are being systematically replaced with DEMs derived from high-resolution lidar and IfSAR (Alaska only) data.
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1-Meter Digital Elevation Model specification
In January 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Technical Operations Center began producing the 1-Meter Digital Elevation Model data product. This new product was developed to provide high resolution bare-earth digital elevation models from light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data and other elevation data collected over the conterminous United States (lower 48...
Authors
Samantha Arundel, Christy-Ann Archuleta, Lori A. Phillips, Brittany Roche, Eric W. Constance
Related
1-Meter Digital Elevation Model specification
In January 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Technical Operations Center began producing the 1-Meter Digital Elevation Model data product. This new product was developed to provide high resolution bare-earth digital elevation models from light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data and other elevation data collected over the conterminous United States (lower 48...
Authors
Samantha Arundel, Christy-Ann Archuleta, Lori A. Phillips, Brittany Roche, Eric W. Constance
Updated Date: January 29, 2025