The days of data shortage are gone. More and more DEM data sets are published under free licenses or as public domain. Through INSPIRE in Europe more and more will follow. The datasets below are not complete. This project will focus on free high resolution datasets with a spatial resolution of 30 meters and below on county/state scale. Have a look at the OpenDemSearcher map client on this website.
For low resolution DEMs here is a great map client.
Other sources, catalogues and lists for high resolution open DEM data:
- OpenTOPO: Community lidar datasets
- LAZIP: Download free and lossless LiDAR compression data
- Wikipedia National Lidar Dataset
- Wikipedia National Lidar Dataset (United States)
- ArcGIS OpenData Catalog
- OpenTerrain List
Please read the license carefully. Not all versions of a dataset might be available for free usage.
| Name | Region | Licence | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| SRTM 3-Arc seconds | world from 56° S to 60° N | Public Domain | 3-Arc seconds |
| SRTM 1-Arc second | world from 56° S to 60° N , except the middle east (map) | Public Domain | 1-Arc second |
| GTOPO30 | world | Public Domain | 30 Arc Seconds |
| GLOBE | world | Public Domain | 30 Arc Seconds |
| CGIAR | world from 56° S to 60° N | non comercial | diverse |
| MERIT DEM | world from 60° S to 90° N | non comercial | 3-Arc seconds |
| Viewfinder Panoramas enhanced SRTM data | world | research and private use | diverse |
| Allos World 3D - 30m | world | terms of use | 30 m |
| govdata germany | germany | variable | diverse |
| gis.arso.gov.si | slovenian | public domain like | 1 m |
| Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project | antarctica | citation | diverse |
| CDED | canada | Public Domain | diverse |
| EuroDEM | europe | license terms | 2-Arc second |
| EU-DEM | europe | terms of use | 1-Arc second |
| Europe Digital Terrain Model * | europe | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International | 30 m |
| OpenDataPortal Europe | europe | Legal Notice | diverse |
| NED Alaska | alaska | Public Domain | diverse |
* For the Europe Digital Terrain Model, a canopy height map was used to create a DTM from different DSM sources. Buildings were not included in this model.
