Looking for bathymetric (underwater elevation/depth) data? Go to our Bathymetry Data page.
Need LiDAR (point cloud) data? Go to our LiDAR page.
Elevation data generally comes in two formats: contour lines or digital elevation models (DEMs). Contour lines are the elevation lines you often see on topographic maps and they are generally measured in feet or metres above sea level. DEMs are raster datasets that have pixels like a digital image, except that each pixel contains an elevation value for the land area (e.g. 900m2 in a DEM with a 30m resolution) that the pixel covers. It is possible to create DEMs from contours and contours from DEMs using GIS software.
- DEMs: digital elevation models represent the land or "bare earth" (no trees, buildings, etc.)
- DSMs: digital surface models represent the reflective surface of the earth (bare earth plus trees, buildings)
- DTMs: digital terrain models are either synonymous with DEMs or comprised of a network of vector points instead of a continuous raster
- Further details here and here
Below is a list of elevation datasets by geography, beginning with Ottawa-Gatineau and moving up to the entire world. Those available only to Carleton students, faculty, and staff are marked with a Carleton logo. All others are freely available to anyone.
Elevation data for Ottawa-Gatineau | Ontario | Canada | USA & North America | International
Ottawa-Gatineau
Contours
- Ottawa 1:2,000 Scale Topographic Data contours
- Ottawa 1:25,000 Scale Topographic Data contours
DEMs & DSMs
- Ottawa 3D surface (part of the Ottawa 3D Buildings data package)
- Ottawa LiDAR-derived Digital Surface Model (2006-2015) - 1m resolution
- Available in both TIF files for raster DEM and LAS files for LiDAR
- Ottawa-Gatineau Digital Elevation Models - 25cm resolution
- Freely available Digital Raster Acquisition Project for the East (DRAPE) 2014 DEM & 2014 DSM - 2m resolution
- Freely available Québec (including Gatineau) - LiDAR produits dérivés 1-2m resolution
- Click on the Carte interactive link
- Click the Accéder button
- At the bottom of the Menu, click TÉLÉCHARGEMENT GRATUIT to view options for each index tile
- Freely available: see High Resolution Digital Elevation Model (HRDEM) - CanElevation Series (2-5m) under Canada, below
Ontario
Contours
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources contours - 5m resolution for southern Ontario, 10m for near northern Ontario
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources contours for free from Land Information Ontario (LIO) - 5m sourthern Ontario, 10m near northern Ontario
- You may want to consult LIO's EcoRegions as the contours are clipped to each region
DEMs & DTMs
- Provincial Digital Elevation Model Version 3.0 - 30m resolution
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources spot height - 10m resolution
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Digital Terrain Models for cities and counties in southern Ontario
- Digital Raster Acquisition Project for the East (DRAPE) 2014 DEM & 2014 DSM - 2m resolution
- North West Ontario Orthophotography Project (NWOOP) 2017 DEM - 2m resolution
- South Western Ontario Orthophotography Project (SWOOP) 2015 DSM & 2015 DTM - 2m resolution
- South Central Ontario Orthophotography Project (SCOOP) 2013 DTMs - 2m resolution
- City of Toronto Digital Terrain Model (DTM)
Canada
Contours
- Download some DEMs (below) and then follow our step-by-step guide on making contours using Global Mapper on the library's GIS computers
- Provincial and territorial datasets:
- Alberta: 1:20,000 topographic dataset contains contours.
- Manitoba - 1:20,000; requires free registration; part of Topographic Maps dataset and contours also found in LiDAR subsection
- Prince Edward Island - 2m contours; dataset found near bottom of list on linked page
DEMs & DSMs
| Dataset | Coverage | Resolution |
| ArcticDEM | All land north of 60° (NT, NU, YT) | 2-5m |
| Canada DEM | Canada | 30m |
| Canada DSM | Canada | 20m |
| High Resolution DEM | Parts of Canada | 2-5m |
| Elevation 2007 | North America (seamless) | 1km |
| Provincial/territorial datasets | AB, MB, NB, NS, QC, YT | varies |
- ArcticDEM - 2m to 5m resolution
- Will "encompass all land area north of 60° north latitude" and includes Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut regions
- A workflow for individual tiles:
- Download the shapefile Tile Index
- Unzip it and open in ArcMap or another GIS software
- Add a basemap of your choice and zoom into your area of interest
- Using the Identify tool, click on a tile in your area of interest
- There will be a file URL to the data for that tile (double-compressed .tar.gz file) in the attribute table
- Click the URL and the data should download
- Uncompress/extract the .gz file, then uncompress/extract the .tar file
- Canadian Digital Elevation Model (CDEM) - 1:50,000 / 30m resolution and 1:250,000, and Canadian Digital Surface Model Mosaic (CDSM), 20m resolution
- Elevation model is the ground elevation and surface model includes buildings, trees, etc.
- Easiest way to download the CDEM tiles or CDSM tiles across Canada:
- use the Index of Geospatial Products
- click the Themes tab
- under Elevation, choose either CDEM or CDSM
- zoom into your area of interest
- select the tile(s) you are interested in downloading
- If you want many tiles, you may want to try the Geospatial Data Extraction tool but it has a download limit of 50,000km2 per session
- You can generate contours from this data using Global Mapper and our help guide
- High Resolution Digital Elevation Model (HRDEM) - CanElevation Series - 2m resolution (south) / 5m (north of forest line)
- Includes digital terrain model (DTM) and digital surface model (DSM) generated from LiDAR data
- Only some areas of Canada are covered (Nunavut; areas of the Northwest Territories; Gatineau; southern Manitoba; areas of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, etc.)
- We recommend downloading the KMZ (Google Earth) file which makes it easiest to both view available areas and download the desired tiles
- You can also follow the instructions for CDEM/CDSM, above, and select HRDEM under Elevations
- DMTI Clutter and and Digital Elevation Models - 30m and 90m resolution / 1:50,000 and 1:250,000
- Provincial and territorial datasets:
- Alberta - 1:20,000 by town, county, NTS grid number, or Alberta Township System location
- Conversion tools for Alberta Township System (from latitude-longitude, etc.)
- Manitoba - 1:20,000; requires free registration
- New Brunswick - 70m interval between points; digital terrain model
- Nova Scotia - 20m resolution; make sure to read the downloading instructions
- Québec - LiDAR produits dérivés 1-2m resolution
- Click on the Carte interactive link
- Click the Accéder button
- At the bottom of the Menu, click TÉLÉCHARGEMENT GRATUIT to view options for each index tile
- Yukon - 30m and 90m resolutions
- Alberta - 1:20,000 by town, county, NTS grid number, or Alberta Township System location
- Want DEMs for all of Canada? The Commission for Environmental Cooperation has a 1km Elevation dataset that's seamless for all of North America
United States of America
Contours
- Download some DEMs (below) and then follow our step-by-step guide on making contours using Global Mapper on the library's GIS computers
DEMs
- The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has a list of elevation products available for download, including:
- National Elevation Dataset (10m, 30m, and some areas 3m) via the National Map Viewer
- Commission for Environmental Cooperation's Elevation 2007 - 1km resolution
- Seamless for North America and comes in one download
- Greenland glacier elevation data from Oceans Melting Greenland project - 25m resolution
International
Contours
- Look at open data site(s) for your location
- Some will have contours and some will not, but it's worthwhile to check
- For example, OS Open Data has 10m contours for the United Kingdom
- Download some DEMs (below) and then follow our step-by-step guide on making contours using Global Mapper on the library's GIS computers
DEMs
- ASTER GDEM - 30m resolution
- Step 1 in this help guide takes you through selecting the tile(s) you need; requires free sign-up to download
- ArcticDEM - 2m to 5m resolution
- Will "encompass all land area north of 60° north latitude"
- There is a download workflow outlined above
- Global Land Survey Digital Elevation Model (GLSDEM) - 90m resolution
- Can also access via Global Data Explorer; requires free sign-up to download
- JAXA ALOS Global Digital Surface Model - 30m resolution
- Requires free signup to download
- Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) - 90m & 1km resolution