Assessment of Height Models Covering Jordan valley Area

Abstract

Assessment of Height Models Covering Jordan valley Area
Khaldoun Said Qtaishat *
Abstract
The production of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) is expensive, but now the height models which can be generated from high resolution satellites are available free of charge with good and reasonable accuracy. The 90-metre TanDEM-X Digital Elevation Model has been released for scientific use and is now available free of charge as a global dataset. By providing this data, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) encourages free access to satellite data.
This paper provides an independent investigation into the quality, performance of Elevation Models (DEMs) which generated from TanDEM-X with 90m spacing (3 arcsec) for Jordan valley. The accuracy of DEM is assessed through the comparison of accuracy against an independent data from aerial LiDAR, and against DEM created from AW3D30 with one arc second free of charge. The root mean square differences (m) is 2.40 m against LiDAR, and AW3D30 with one arc second for areas with slope < 20%.
Keywords: DEM, satellites, TanDEM-X, AW3D30, accuracy.