Digital Terrain Model (DTM)1

What Is A digital terrain model is a topographic model of the bare earth terrain relief - that can be manipulated by computer programs. The data files contain the spatial elevation data of the terrain in a digital format which usually presented as a rectangular grid. Vegetation, buildings and other man-made (artificial) features are removed digitally - leaving just the underlying terrain ( on the other hand, Digital Surface Model (DSM) is usually the main product produced from photogrammetry, where it does contain all the features mentioned above, while a filtered DSM results in a DTM).

DTM model is mostly related as raster data type (opposed to vector data type), stored usually as a rectangular equal-spaced grid, with space (resolution) of between 50 and 500 meters mostly presented in cartesian coordinate system i.e. x, y, z (there are DTMs presented in geographic coordinate system i.e. angular coordinates of latitude and longitude). For several applications a higher resolution is required (as high as 1 meter spacing). A DTM can be used to guide automatic machinery in the construction of a physical model or even in computer games, where is describes the relief map. Modeling terrain relief via DTM is a powerful tool in GIS (Geographic Information System) analysis and visualization. DTM can be stored in a GIS databases in several ways: 1) a set of contour vectors (left); 2) a rectangular grid of equal-spaced corner/point heights (middle); or, 3) an irregularly spaced set of points connected as triangles (TIN Triangular Irregular Network) (right).
Excerpt from wikipedia.org, Simon Dadson ("DTM"), Terrainmap.com, and Graduate School of Design at Harvard University
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Figure 3

Contour lines superimposed on grid DTM

Grid DTM terrain relief representation

TIN terrain relief representation

What Is It Good For?... The DTM data sets are extremely useful for the generation of 3D renderings of any location in the area described. 3D models rendered from DTM data can be extremely useful and versatile for a variety of applications. DTMs are used especially in civil engineering, geodesy & surveying, geophysics, and geography. The main applications are:

1. Visualization of the terrain 2. Reduction (terrain correction) of gravity measurements (gravimetry, physical geodesy) 3. Terrain analyses in Cartography and Morphology 4. Rectification of airborne or satellite photos 5. Extraction of terrain parameters, model water flow or mass movement

A DTM representation of the Middle East2 Where Do I Buy One?... Data Sources for DTM reconstruction can be derived from ground survey, photogrammetry or cartographic data capture. In either case, the resolution at which data points are sampled is important in determining the usefulness of the resulting DTM, hence the derived applications. The most popular model construction structures are the grid DTM and triangular irregular network. Here is a short comparison of the two:

The source for this picture is the USGS website, where you can download for free data samples

Grid DTM
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Simple storage compatible with satellite data good surface analysis slower to compute possibility of redundant data points uniform pixel size

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TIN fewer points needed for the same accuracy resolution adapts to terrain storage of topology no surface analysis initial construction is time consuming some operations do not have efficient algorithms

The preferred model will depend mostly on: data availability; nature of surface (featureless plain ( DTM)/intricate mountains ( TIN)); application techniques that will be used to analyze and manipulate model (complicity of algorithms and calculations); scale and resolution of the data and problem.

Aspect representation derived from elevation

Slope representation derived from elevation

Hill shade calculated from elevation

Visibility from certain point (red dot)

Can I Rely On That?... The problem with DTM data is that it does not contain anything other than elevation information. While useful for general visualization purposes, it can be difficult to locate objects precisely on the terrain

model by referencing topographic features (since these can all seem to look alike). One way to improve a DTM is to overlay raster data on top or a topographical map over the terrain model. Nowadays, when the use of LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) laser scans, a technology that produces DSM points cloud, are becoming more and more common, the variety of applications and visualizations are becoming relevant to many projects. Some uncertainties and errors can be featured in DTM data: The accuracy of a DTM depends on the accuracy of its source data and on the model resolution. Two DTMs produced from the same data will not contain the same information if their resolution and sampling strategies are different. Similarly a TIN or contour map produced from a grid DTM will contain uncertainties related to the design of the original DTM structure and its inherent errors. Analysis and calculations based on existing DTMs may also introduce error and uncertainty through errors in interpolating points or fitting surfaces. Various parameters computed from the surface of DTMs have been shown to change with model resolution.

TIN Representation of a human skull from a low resolution laser scan

SSX3 video game featuring complex terrain relief (represented by DTM)