Viewfinder Panorama DEMs (2014)

Viewfinder Panorama Digital Elevation Models (VFP-DEMs) are an important archive of auxiliary elevation information. Over more than 10 years, Jonathan de Ferranti and colleagues have compiled alternative elevation sources (AES) particularly over mountainous terrain and desert regions with SRTM voids present. The alternative elevation sources (AES) of the VFP-DEMs include, e.g., detailed topographic maps (from ground or areal surveys), spot elevations on sketch maps, Landsat satellite imagery and lower-resolution global elevation products. According to VFP-DEMs, particularly contours from 1:100K and 1:200K topographic maps by the Russian military often provide the best AES to supplement modern global SRTM data sets over void areas. The AES have been combined with SRTM data and released at 1” and 3” resolution. The various AES data sources behind the VFP-DEMs can be briefly summarized as follows. SRTM void areas were filled over: North America based on USGS 1” data, South America based on ASTER GDEM and local 1:100K and 1:50K topographic maps Asia with ASTER GDEM, Russian 1:100K and 1:200K, Nepal 1:50K such that most major summits of the Himalayas are represented accurately, European Alps based on local 1:25K and 1:50K maps, and Russian 1:100K maps Northern latitudes based on Russian, Iceland and Norwegian topographic maps (scales between 1:50K and 1:500K) and ICESAT DEMs, Africa based on ASTER GDEM2, and Antarctica based on 200m DEM from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSDIC). The AES of the VFP-DEMs were used as input data, e.g., for the MERIT and SRTM V4.1 data sets. View a m ap of VFP-DEMs at 3 arc-second resolution here . Data access: The VFP-DEM data is available at 3 and 15 arc-sec resolution globally and at 1 arc-sec resolution for parts of Europe, such as the European Alps, Scandinavia, Pyrenees and Cantabria via http://viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.html .