Evaluation on the accuracy of digital elevation models

1 IntroductionDigital elevation model (DEM) is digital representation of relief. It is one of the most important components in the database of GIS. At present, DEM is playing a key role in the field of survey and mapping, remote sensing and almost all the terrain related geographical analyses. DEM can be grouped into regular grids (raster) and triangulated irregular networks (TIN). Both have their advantages and disadvantages in application. It is generally believed that grid DEM will …

Evaluation on the accuracy of digital elevation models

There is a growing interest in investigating the accuracy of digital elevation model (DEM). However people usually have an unbalanced view on DEM errors. They emphasize DEM sampling errors, but ignore the impact of DEM resolution and terrain roughness on the accuracy of terrain representation. This research puts forward the concept of DEM terrain representation error (Et) and then investigates the generation, factors, measurement and simulation of DEM terrain representation errors. A multi-resolution and multi-relief comparative approach is used as the major methodology in this research. The experiment reveals a quantitative relationship between the error and the variation of resolution and terrain roughness at a global level. Root mean square error (RMS Et) is regressed against surface profile curvature (V) and DEM resolution (R) at 10 resolution levels. It is found that the RMS Et may be expressed as RMS Et = (0.0061 ( V 0.0052) ( R - 0.022 ( V 0.2415. This result may be very useful in forecasting DEM accuracy, as well as in determining the DEM resolution related to the accuracy requirement of particular application.