OpenTopography

Comparison of ASTER GDEM to SRTM    

Posted on Mon, August 03, 2009 by C. Crosby in Data

The recently released ASTER Global Digital Elevation Map (GDEM) from NASA and Japan’s METI has been widely publicized on geospatial data blogs, email lists and in the mainstream media.  At 30 meter resolution, these data promise relatively high-resolution DEM coverage for most of the globe (coverage falls between 83N and 83S latitudes).  These data can be accessed either via NASA’s EOS archive or Japan’s Ground Data System

OpenTopography team member Ramon Arrowsmith has a preliminary comparison of the ASTER GDEM data with 90 m Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data on his blog.  Ramon notes that due to various artifacts and high-frequency noise, the GDEM data may not be as impressive as one would hope relative to the SRTM data.