MODULE 11:

TERRAIN VISUALIZATION

Training on Geographic Information System using Quantum GIS

NATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION STAFF
November 5 – 9, 12 – 16, 2012
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OVERVIEW
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a 3D digital model of a surface such as the surface of the earth. DEM data that can
be obtained free from the internet is the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data. The SRTM obtained
elevation data on a near-global scale to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database
of Earth. Another source of elevation data is Aster. It has better coverage of the earth’s surface than SRTM, and is
slightly higher-resolution, but contains more errors than clean SRTM set. Errors are usually in the form of spikes or
pits, and can be significant. In QGIS there are several tools that can process DEM and derived useful information
such as hillshade or slope. You can integrate these information to your GIS hazard data to understand the nature
of hazards in your province.

TERRAIN ANALYSIS
To start creating terrain products, you load the SRTM data you reprojected from a previous module (Module 3) or
load the data in the folder Module 11 / Dataset. The SRTM data is Philippine coverage so you could optionally clip
first the data to your province to reduce the size of the data you will process. Otherwise just go on processing the
entire extent.

CLIPPING A RASTER DATA

The provincial boundary shapefile can be used as a clip layer, so load it in your QGIS session. To clip a raster, go to
Raster menu > Extraction > Clipper. This tool will allow you to specify the raster to be clipped and the shapefile
that will clip or cut this raster.

Click Clipper tool under Raster

menu.

In the dialog box, make sure the

Input file is the raster that you
want to clip (srtm_90m …)

Specify the output raster

(SDN_SRTM) and place this in
Dataset / Output folder

Select ‘No data value’ and

accept default to be 0.

If you want to have a

rectangular window extent that
you can specify in your map
canvass then clipping is Extent
otherwise choose Mask layer to
specify a clip layer.

Either way, the raster should be

reduced when you press the OK
button.

Load this Raster layer in your

QGIS session

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Load the clipped raster and remove the whole philippne raster. Select the layer and go to Properties > style to
change the contrast enhancement of the raster in the map display. (see Module 2 on raster display)

Go to Layer Properties by right-clicking

the layer and selecting Properties.

In the dialog, go to Style tab.

For raster, change contrast enhancement

parameter from ‘No stretch’ to ‘Stretch to
MinMax’

To create terrain products, go to Raster menu > Terrain analysis. You will now create a Hillshade terrain product.

Hillshade visualization analyzes the digital elevation model to simulate a 3-dimensional terrain. The effect of
sunlight on topography is not necessarily accurate but gives a good approximation of the terrain.

Select Hillshade tool under Raster

menu

In the dialog, specify the output layer –

SDN_SRTM_Hillshade

Z factor value is the vertical

exaggeration of the terrain, if you want
spiky mountains, then increase this
value. For this exercise put this to 5.

Illumination is the location of the light

source and so the shadows that will be
generated. Just accept the default.

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This command will create a new raster – SDN_SRTM_Hillshade. Load this to your Layerist and change its Contrast
Enhancement in the Properties > Style tab. For the exercise the Hillshade will look like the figure below:

Putting a little transparency settings in your vector shapefile (SDN_Exposure_RIL) and overlaying this to this layer
could create a pretty “3D effects” in your maps.

Select a vector layer, say SDN

Exposure_RIL.shp

Go to Layer Properties > Style

Click Old symbology

Change Tranparency level

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Another product that you can derive from you SRTM DEM data is slope. Slope visualization assigns a color to a
pixel based on the difference in elevation between it and the pixels around it. We use it to make steep hills stand
out and enhance the look of our terrain. From the Raster menu > Terrain Analysis > Slope, a pop dialog will allow
you to create a slope map with a given z factor.

Stretching the grayscale to min max value would mean that darker areas are flat areas and white areas are slopy or
steep areas. The figure below shows the effect of this kind of visualization on your slope data.

Another way of visualizing slope is to create a colormap of the range of slope values stored in the pixel of the
raster. In the layer Properties > Style, change the default selection in the Colormap (which is ‘Grayscale’) to
‘Colormap’.

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With the Colormap tab now enabled,

switch to this tab.

Instead of adding individual entries,

allow QGIS to automatically do the
partitioning of classes.

Specify the number of classes, say 5

and press classify.

The entries will now be populated with

the range of slope values and a color
symbol for each range. You can modify
the value and color if you want.

Press OK to accept and display the

slope map

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WRAP UP
In this module you have learned to process terrain information such as digital elevation model (DEM) and create
products for visualization and measurement information. DEM can generate several products such as Hillshades
and color maps that show elevation. Information such as Slopes and contours can also be produced from this
terrain data and can further be used in various analysis such as hydrographic modeling.

In this module you learned how DEM hillshade can be use to create 3D effects to your map. Integrating your
derivative thematic data to this terrain data could enhance presentation and can also provide validity by
comparing output to the terrain feature. This was done in the exercise.

Module 11: Terrain Visualization