Importing digital elevation data files...

[vaughnmr]

Has anyone had any luck or found a good workflow for importing elevation data from the digital elevation files available on the web?

I'm talking about .dem or .dlg or mrsid or stds or "whatever the latest and greatest format for digital elevation files" that can be downloaded.

Michael Vaughn
BWG Architecture

[Lashers]

I've done radar mapped contours . . they work like normal. The site I use has a free sample of data that can be downloaded to test, are you in the UK?
http://www3.getmapping.com/home.asp Have a play with one of these - look in the box to the right of the Ordinance Survey Logo.

I have been meaning to have a play, if I get to it this weekend I will let you know.

[vaughnmr]

No, I'm in the US. I've already downloaded a lot of digital elevation files, in many different formats, and I'm looking for a way to convert them to at least dxf files. Most of the data came from the USGS (US Geological Survey), and some was from the TNRIS (Texas Natural Resource Information System) but there seems to be so many different formats that I'm at a loss on how to get the data into a dwg file with elevations.

Most of the time, our projects are on "flat" terrain, but we do some work near Lake Texoma (50' to 75' changes in elevation near the lake), and the digital elevation maps are pretty good at showing the contours close to the lake, not exact, but close enough if the customer doesn't want to pay for a survey during design development (residential). The land around the lake is somewhat undeveloped and the data could be useful with the caveat that grading could have occured after the maps were made. I'm just interested....
why not try to use the available information in preliminary work.

Michael Vaughn
BWG Architecture