# DEM (Digital Elevation Model) Layer

This layer provides elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)

Elevation data can be useful in planning trips, as you many wish to avoid/minimise the hills encountered. [OSM Cyclemap is also useful this way too]

To download the data use the dem_tool_dl tool (shown on the toolbar), and then click on a area of the viewport. Once files have been downloaded they can then be loaded from disk via the DEM properties in future application runs.

The default data server is the official NASA site, however (as of 2021) to download from NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) you must Register and then provide your login details to &appname; in the prefs_dem_server preferences.

In order to support alternative DEM servers, the Downloads Property tab contains settings to change the URL and to configure how requests are made to the DEM since different servers store the files in different locations and names. The defaults in using NASA Earthdata are:

- Base URL set to `https://e4ftl01.cr.usgs.gov/MEASURES/SRTMGL1.003/2000.02.11`

- Layout set to `None`

- Filename Convention set to `SRTMGL1`

One currently known alternative DEM server is provided by Another Activity Tracker (AAT). This is supported by the following settings:

- Base URL set to `https://bailu.ch/dem3`

- Layout set to `Latitude`

- Filename Convention set to `Normal`

ATM &appname; does not auto download DEM data. If you want to get lots of data blocks, you may wish to use some other program get such as curl or wget to download them for an area.

The location for DEM files stored on local disk is under the Map Layer cache_location, using the `Continent` style as this was how the original DEM server (pre 2021) worked.

Using many DEMs is memory intensive as every DEM block is loaded into memory. Depending on your computer's capability, it is probably unwise to attempt using too many blocks (perhaps 200+ it becomes an issue), so trying to use DEMs covering large countries/continents (USA, Australia etc...) is unlikely to work. In these conditions under Linux, &appname; may be automatically stopped by the "OOM Killer".

## Layer Properties

Configurable properties are split into several sections:

### Drawing

Min Elev Colour

- Explicit colour for those lower than the Min Elev.

Colour Scheme

- Default or Delineate. Delineate allows selecting start and end colours, with in between colours automatically allocated.

Start Colour

End Colour

- For the Delineate Colour Scheme.

Type

- Absolute height or Height gradient.

Min Elev

- The colourmap starts from this height.

Max Elev

- The colourmap ends at this height.

Alpha

- Control the Alpha value for transparency effects.

Colours for drawing the DEM are allocated in discrete units between the Min Elev and Max Elev heights. Thus to see differences more clearly you may want to adjust these values to match the height variance around the area of interest.

### Download

Base URL

- The server URL including the root location of the DEM files

Layout

- Describes how the DEM file directory structure on the server is laid out.

Filename Convention

- `Normal` means the filenames on the server are named like `N12E034.hgt.zip`

  `SRTMGL1` means the filenames on the server are named like `N12E034.SRTMGL1.hgt.zip`

### Files

DEM Files

- The list of files in use.

  Normally you do not need to manually edit this list.

## Layer Operations

Other than the standard operations (Cut, Paste etc...), there are no further specific operations available.

## Screenshot

### Screenshot: DEM Example

An example with an alternative colour scheme.