How to create a digital terrain model

Before looking into the steps to create a DTM, allow me introduce you to Atom Map Solutions,  a service that we have developed to make for you maps at a fair price, you simply have to visit Atom Map Solutions page for more information.



Digital Terrain Model

A DTM is a 3D representation of the earth's surface. Today in the modern Geo-spatial world DTMs can be gotten from data collected from Aerial surveys, satellites e.t.c . Aerial vehicles used may be Air crafts or drones.
On the other hand, some of the satellites used may be Space Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), ASTER e.t.c

However the resolution of the DTMs provided by free satellites service does not provide good representation and modelling to use for projects covering a small spatial extent. This is because of the low spatial resolution of these platforms.

Alternatively one can use either  aerial vehicles or premium Satellite data. However, this is costly as it may require millions of money ($) 

Today you will learn how to create your own DTM from raw elevation data (heights) using a Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) . In this tutorial i will use a csv file with X,Y and Z data.

Step 1:  Load the csv file into QGIS and export it as a shape file. In case you already have the shape file layer just load it straight away into the software

Step 2:  In the processing bar, search for TIN and click on it.

Step 3:  Once the tool opens, input the parameters and customize them to what you want . for the first time use the default values then later you can change to anything you want. 
Run the tool after



Step 4: Style the output the way you want. Remember that the final output depends on the quality of the elevation data and your skills

Don't forget to follow our face book page for more Gis tricks and information @atomgeospatialsolutions