Digital Elevation Models

EOMAP's Digital Elevation Models are digital surface models (DSM, including buildings and vegetation) and digital terrain models (DTM, bare ground) derived from very-high-resolution stereo satellite imagery, so engineers, modellers and planners can obtain topography for coastal and inland sites without on-site surveys.

Stereo image pairs from commercial sensors such as Maxar WorldView, Pléiades, Pléiades Neo and SPOT are processed in an automated workflow built on a modified Semi-Global Matching approach. EOMAP uses ICESat-2 satellite lidar data to calibrate the surface models and to derive terrain models with machine learning. Models are offered at 0.5 to 5 m resolution. Typical absolute uncertainty is 3 m LE90/CE90; in open terrain with moderate vegetation it is usually well below 2 m and can reach 1 m LE90, and calibration with ground control points can reach 1 m LE90 and 1.5 m CE90; an uncertainty value is provided for every point.

Repeat acquisitions allow the models to be updated to follow changes such as erosion, and they can be merged with EOMAP's satellite-derived bathymetry into seamless topo-bathy grids. In late 2024 EOMAP used 37 stereo pairs to build a DSM/DTM of more than 8,000 sq km of coastal land for a combined topo-bathy dataset covering Saudi Arabia's Red Sea EEZ. Stated applications include coastal planning and hydrodynamic modelling, mine design and haul-road planning, and flood and sea-level-rise risk assessment.

Data are delivered as GeoTIFF rasters, XYZ point clouds, KMZ overlays, PDF maps and contour shapefiles with ISO 19139 metadata; orthorectified imagery is provided on request. Buyers send an area of interest and receive a feasibility assessment within hours. EOMAP is a Fugro company.