Volume 15, Issue 3, April 2016, Pages 618–628
Mohamed El Imrani1, Chakib Darraz2, Noaman Akalai3, Rachid Hlila4, and Abdelouahid El Ouaazani5
1 Mapping and Numeric Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tetuan, Morocco
2 Mapping and Numeric Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tetuan, Morocco
3 Mapping and Numeric Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tetuan, Morocco
4 Département de Géologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tétouan, B.P 2121, Université Abdel Malek Essaâdi, Tétouan, Morocco
5 Mapping and Numeric Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tetuan, Morocco
Original language: English
Copyright © 2016 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Digital elevation models (DEMs), as its name suggests, is a digital representation of ground in terms of altitude. It provides information not only on landforms but also on their geolocation; this is why it is considered one of the most useful digital data sets for a wide range of users. Various field, remote, and laboratory techniques can generate DEMs. Some of the DEMs such as ASTER, SRTM, and GTOPO30 are freely available open source products; however, the accuracy of these data sets is often unknown and is uneven within each dataset due to radar characteristics, type of topography, and physical properties of the surface. In this study, we evaluate open source DEMs (ASTER and SRTM) and their derived attributes using a reference DEM produced by contours maps interpolation and ground control points. In fact, the quality of derived attributes of DEMs such as slopes and drainage network is closely linked to accuracy of DEMs. While Open source DEMs partially show low accuracy in high elevation terrain and forest areas, it can be concluded that the quality of the datasets is sufficient in large scale studies.
Author Keywords: Digital elevation models, ASTER, SRTM, Topography, Accuracy.
Mohamed El Imrani1, Chakib Darraz2, Noaman Akalai3, Rachid Hlila4, and Abdelouahid El Ouaazani5
1 Mapping and Numeric Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tetuan, Morocco
2 Mapping and Numeric Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tetuan, Morocco
3 Mapping and Numeric Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tetuan, Morocco
4 Département de Géologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tétouan, B.P 2121, Université Abdel Malek Essaâdi, Tétouan, Morocco
5 Mapping and Numeric Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tetuan, Morocco
Original language: English
Copyright © 2016 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Digital elevation models (DEMs), as its name suggests, is a digital representation of ground in terms of altitude. It provides information not only on landforms but also on their geolocation; this is why it is considered one of the most useful digital data sets for a wide range of users. Various field, remote, and laboratory techniques can generate DEMs. Some of the DEMs such as ASTER, SRTM, and GTOPO30 are freely available open source products; however, the accuracy of these data sets is often unknown and is uneven within each dataset due to radar characteristics, type of topography, and physical properties of the surface. In this study, we evaluate open source DEMs (ASTER and SRTM) and their derived attributes using a reference DEM produced by contours maps interpolation and ground control points. In fact, the quality of derived attributes of DEMs such as slopes and drainage network is closely linked to accuracy of DEMs. While Open source DEMs partially show low accuracy in high elevation terrain and forest areas, it can be concluded that the quality of the datasets is sufficient in large scale studies.
Author Keywords: Digital elevation models, ASTER, SRTM, Topography, Accuracy.
How to Cite this Article
Mohamed El Imrani, Chakib Darraz, Noaman Akalai, Rachid Hlila, and Abdelouahid El Ouaazani, “Vertical accuracy assessment of Open source Digital Elevation Model (a case study from northern Morocco),” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 618–628, April 2016.
