Ubuntu Manpage: gdaldem - Tools to analyze and visualize DEMs.

Provided by: gdal-bin_3.12.0+dfsg-1_amd64

NAME

       gdaldem - Tools to analyze and visualize DEMs.

SYNOPSIS

          gdaldem [--help] [--help-general] <mode> <input> <output> <options>

       From any GDAL-supported elevation raster:

       Generate a shaded relief map:

          gdaldem hillshade <input_dem> <output_hillshade>
                      [-z <zfactor>] [[-s <scale>] | [-xscale <xscale> -yscale <yscale>]]
                      [-az <azimuth>] [-alt <altitude>]
                      [-alg ZevenbergenThorne] [-combined | -multidirectional | -igor]
                      [-compute_edges] [-b <Band>] [-of <format>] [-co <NAME>=<VALUE>]... [-q]

       Generate a slope map:

          gdaldem slope <input_dem> <output_slope_map>
                      [-p] [[-s <scale>] | [-xscale <xscale> -yscale <yscale>]]
                      [-alg ZevenbergenThorne]
                      [-compute_edges] [-b <band>] [-of <format>] [-co <NAME>=<VALUE>]... [-q]

       Generate an aspect map, outputs a 32-bit float raster with pixel values from 0-360 indicating azimuth:

          gdaldem aspect <input_dem> <output_aspect_map>
                      [-trigonometric] [-zero_for_flat]
                      [-alg ZevenbergenThorne]
                      [-compute_edges] [-b <band>] [-of format] [-co <NAME>=<VALUE>]... [-q]

       Generate a color relief map:

          gdaldem color-relief <input_dem> <color_text_file> <output_color_relief_map>
                       [-alpha] [-exact_color_entry | -nearest_color_entry]
                       [-b <band>] [-of format] [-co <NAME>=<VALUE>]... [-q]

          where color_text_file contains lines of the format "elevation_value red green blue [alpha]". If alpha column is present it can be enabled for use with '-alpha'.

       Generate a Terrain Ruggedness Index (TRI) map:

          gdaldem TRI input_dem output_TRI_map
                      [-alg Wilson|Riley]
                      [-compute_edges] [-b Band (default=1)] [-of format] [-q]

       Generate a Topographic Position Index (TPI) map:

          gdaldem TPI <input_dem> <output_TPI_map>
                      [-compute_edges] [-b <band>] [-of <format>] [-co <NAME>=<VALUE>]... [-q]

       Generate a roughness map:

          gdaldem roughness <input_dem> <output_roughness_map>
                      [-compute_edges] [-b <band>] [-of <format>] [-co <NAME>=<VALUE>]... [-q]

DESCRIPTION

The gdaldem generates output rasters using different algorithms for terrain analysis.

In general, it assumes that x, y and z units are identical. However, for hillshade and slope computation,
starting with GDAL 3.11, if none of -scale, -xscale and -yscale are specified, and the CRS is a
geographic or projected CRS, gdaldem will automatically determine the appropriate ratio from the units of
the CRS, as well as the potential value of the units of the raster band (as returned by
GDALRasterBand::GetUnitType(), if it is metre, foot international or US survey foot). Note that for
geographic CRS, the result for source datasets at high latitudes may be incorrect, and prior reprojection
to a polar projection might be needed.

For hillshade and slope computation, if x (east-west) and y (north-south) units are identical, but z
(elevation) units are different, the -scale option (or -xscale and -yscale) can be used to set the ratio
of vertical units to horizontal. For LatLong projections near the equator, where units of latitude and
units of longitude are similar, elevation (z) units can be converted to be compatible by using
scale=370400 (if elevation is in feet) or scale=111120 (if elevation is in meters). For locations not
near the equator, it would be best to reproject your grid using gdalwarp before using gdaldem.

<mode> Where <mode> is one of the seven available modes:

• hillshade
Generate a shaded relief map from any GDAL-supported elevation raster.

• slope
Generate a slope map from any GDAL-supported elevation raster.

• aspect
Generate an aspect map from any GDAL-supported elevation raster.

• color-relief
Generate a color relief map from any GDAL-supported elevation raster.

• TRI
Generate a map of Terrain Ruggedness Index from any GDAL-supported elevation raster.

• TPI
Generate a map of Topographic Position Index from any GDAL-supported elevation raster.

• roughness
Generate a map of roughness from any GDAL-supported elevation raster.

The following general options are available:

--help Show this help message and exit

--help-general
Gives a brief usage message for the generic GDAL commandline options and exit.

<input_dem>
The input DEM raster to be processed

<output_xxx_map>
The output raster produced

-of <format>
Select the output format.
If not specified, the format is guessed from the extension (previously was GTiff -- GeoTIFF
File Format). Use the short format name.

-compute_edges
Do the computation at raster edges and near nodata values

-b <band>
Select an input band to be processed. Bands are numbered from 1.

-co <NAME>=<VALUE>
Many formats have one or more optional creation options that can be used to control particulars
about the file created. For instance, the GeoTIFF driver supports creation options to control
compression, and whether the file should be tiled.

The creation options available vary by format driver, and some simple formats have no creation
options at all. A list of options supported for a format can be listed with the --format command
line option but the documentation for the format is the definitive source of information on driver
creation options. See Raster drivers format specific documentation for legal creation options for
each format.

-q Suppress progress monitor and other non-error output.

For all algorithms, except color-relief, a nodata value in the target dataset will be emitted if at least
one pixel set to the nodata value is found in the 3x3 window centered around each source pixel. The
consequence is that there will be a 1-pixel border around each image set with nodata value.
If -compute_edges is specified, gdaldem will compute values at image edges or if a nodata value is
found in the 3x3 window, by interpolating missing values.

MODES

hillshade
This command outputs an 8-bit raster with a nice shaded relief effect. It’s very useful for visualizing
the terrain. You can optionally specify the azimuth and altitude of the light source, a vertical
exaggeration factor and a scaling factor to account for differences between vertical and horizontal
units.

The value 0 is used as the output nodata value.

The following specific options are available :

-alg Horn|ZevenbergenThorne
The literature suggests Zevenbergen & Thorne to be more suited to smooth landscapes, whereas
Horn's formula to perform better on rougher terrain.

-z <factor>
Vertical exaggeration used to pre-multiply the elevations

-s <scale>
Ratio of vertical units to horizontal units. If the horizontal unit of the source DEM is degrees
(e.g Lat/Long WGS84 projection), you can use scale=111120 if the vertical units are meters (or
scale=370400 if they are in feet).

Starting with GDAL 3.11, if none of -scale, -xscale and -yscale are specified, and the CRS is a
geographic or projected CRS, gdaldem will automatically determine the appropriate ratio from the
units of the CRS, as well as the potential value of the units of the raster band (as returned by
GDALRasterBand::GetUnitType(), if it is metre, foot international or US survey foot). Note that
for geographic CRS, the result for source datasets at high latitudes may be incorrect, and prior
reprojection to a polar projection might be needed.

The effect of this option is the same as specifying -xscale and -yscale with the same value as
-scale. -scale is mutually exclusive with -xscale and -yscale

-xscale <scale>
Added in version 3.11.

Ratio of vertical units to horizontal X axis units. If the horizontal unit of the source DEM is
degrees (e.g Lat/Long WGS84 projection), you can use scale=111120 if the vertical units are meters
(or scale=370400 if they are in feet).

If -xscale is specified, -yscale must also be specified.

-yscale <scale>
Added in version 3.11.

Ratio of vertical units to horizontal Y axis units. If the horizontal unit of the source DEM is
degrees (e.g Lat/Long WGS84 projection), you can use scale=111120 if the vertical units are meters
(or scale=370400 if they are in feet)

If -yscale is specified, -xscale must also be specified.

-az <azimuth>
Azimuth of the light, in degrees. 0 if it comes from the top of the raster, 90 from the east, ...
The default value, 315, should rarely be changed as it is the value generally used to generate
shaded maps.

-alt <altitude>
Altitude of the light, in degrees. 90 if the light comes from above the DEM, 0 if it is raking
light.

-combined
combined shading, a combination of slope and oblique shading.

-multidirectional
multidirectional shading, a combination of hillshading illuminated from 225 deg, 270 deg, 315 deg,
and 360 deg azimuth.

-igor shading which tries to minimize effects on other map features beneath. Can't be used with -alt
option.

Added in version 3.0.

Multidirectional hillshading applies the formula of http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1992/of92-422/of92-422.pdf.

Igor's hillshading uses formula from Maperitive ‐
http://maperitive.net/docs/Commands/GenerateReliefImageIgor.html.

slope
This command will take a DEM raster and output a 32-bit float raster with slope values. You have the
option of specifying the type of slope value you want: degrees or percent slope. In cases where the
horizontal units differ from the vertical units, you can also supply a scaling factor.

The value -9999 is used as the output nodata value.

The following specific options are available :

-alg Horn|ZevenbergenThorne
The literature suggests Zevenbergen & Thorne to be more suited to smooth landscapes, whereas
Horn's formula to perform better on rougher terrain.

-p If specified, the slope will be expressed as percent slope. Otherwise, it is expressed as degrees

The effect of this option is the same as specifying -xscale and -yscale with the same value as
-scale. -scale is mutually exclusive with -xscale and -yscale

-xscale <scale>
Added in version 3.11.

If -xscale is specified, -yscale must also be specified.

-yscale <scale>
Added in version 3.11.

If -yscale is specified, -xscale must also be specified.

aspect
This command outputs a 32-bit float raster with values between 0° and 360° representing the azimuth that
slopes are facing. The definition of the azimuth is such that : 0° means that the slope is facing the
North, 90° it's facing the East, 180° it's facing the South and 270° it's facing the West (provided that
the top of your input raster is north oriented). The aspect value -9999 is used as the nodata value to
indicate undefined aspect in flat areas with slope=0.

The following specifics options are available :

-alg Horn|ZevenbergenThorne
The literature suggests Zevenbergen & Thorne to be more suited to smooth landscapes, whereas
Horn's formula to perform better on rougher terrain.

-trigonometric
Return trigonometric angle instead of azimuth. Thus 0° means East, 90° North, 180° West, 270°
South.

-zero_for_flat
Return 0 for flat areas with slope=0, instead of -9999.

By using those 2 options, the aspect returned by gdaldem aspect should be identical to the one of GRASS
r.slope.aspect. Otherwise, it's identical to the one of Matthew Perry's aspect.cpp utility.

color-relief
This command outputs a 3-band (RGB) or 4-band (RGBA) raster with values are computed from the elevation
and a text-based color configuration file, containing the association between various elevation values
and the corresponding wished color. By default, the colors between the given elevation values are blended
smoothly and the result is a nice colorized DEM. The -exact_color_entry or -nearest_color_entry options
can be used to avoid that linear interpolation for values that don't match an index of the color
configuration file.

The following specifics options are available :

color_text_file
Text-based color configuration file

-alpha Add an alpha channel to the output raster

-exact_color_entry
Use strict matching when searching in the color configuration file. If none matching color entry
is found, the "0,0,0,0" RGBA quadruplet will be used

-nearest_color_entry
Use the RGBA quadruplet corresponding to the closest entry in the color configuration file.

The color-relief mode is the only mode that supports VRT as output format. In that case, it will
translate the color configuration file into appropriate LUT elements. Note that elevations specified as
percentage will be translated as absolute values, which must be taken into account when the statistics of
the source raster differ from the one that was used when building the VRT.

The text-based color configuration file generally contains 4 columns per line: the elevation value and
the corresponding Red, Green, Blue component (between 0 and 255). The elevation value can be any floating
point value, or the nv keyword for the nodata value. The elevation can also be expressed as a
percentage: 0% being the minimum value found in the raster, 100% the maximum value.

An extra column can be optionally added for the alpha component. If it is not specified, full opacity
(255) is assumed.

Various field separators are accepted: comma, tabulation, spaces, ':'.

Common colors used by GRASS can also be specified by using their name, instead of the RGB triplet. The
supported list is: white, black, red, green, blue, yellow, magenta, cyan, aqua, grey/gray, orange, brown,
purple/violet and indigo.
GMT .cpt palette files are also supported (COLOR_MODEL = RGB only).

Note: the syntax of the color configuration file is derived from the one supported by GRASS r.colors
utility. ESRI HDR color table files (.clr) also match that syntax. The alpha component and the support of
tab and comma as separators are GDAL specific extensions.

For example:

3500 white
2500 235:220:175
50% 190 185 135
700 240 250 150
0 50 180 50
nv 0 0 0 0

To implement a "round to the floor value" mode, the elevation value can be duplicate with a new value
being slightly above the threshold. For example to have red in [0,10], green in ]10,20] and blue in
]20,30]:

0 red
10 red
10.001 green
20 green
20.001 blue
30 blue

TRI
This command outputs a single-band raster with values computed from the elevation. TRI stands for
Terrain Ruggedness Index, which measures the difference between a central pixel and its surrounding
cells.

The value -9999 is used as the output nodata value.

The following option is available:

-alg Wilson|Riley
Starting with GDAL 3.3, the Riley algorithm (see Riley, S.J., De Gloria, S.D., Elliot, R. (1999):
A Terrain Ruggedness that Quantifies Topographic Heterogeneity. Intermountain Journal of Science,
Vol.5, No.1-4, pp.23-27) is available and the new default value. This algorithm uses the square
root of the sum of the square of the difference between a central pixel and its surrounding cells.
This is recommended for terrestrial use cases.

The Wilson (see Wilson et al 2007, Marine Geodesy 30:3-35) algorithm uses the mean difference
between a central pixel and its surrounding cells. This is recommended for bathymetric use cases.

TPI
This command outputs a single-band raster with values computed from the elevation. TPI stands for
Topographic Position Index, which is defined as the difference between a central pixel and the mean of
its surrounding cells (see Wilson et al 2007, Marine Geodesy 30:3-35).

The value -9999 is used as the output nodata value.

There are no specific options.

roughness
This command outputs a single-band raster with values computed from the elevation. Roughness is the
largest inter-cell difference of a central pixel and its surrounding cell, as defined in Wilson et al
(2007, Marine Geodesy 30:3-35).

The value -9999 is used as the output nodata value.

There are no specific options.

C API

       This utility is also callable from C with GDALDEMProcessing().

AUTHORS

       Matthew  Perry   perrygeo@gmail.com,   Even   Rouault   even.rouault@spatialys.com,   Howard   Butler   ‐
       hobu.inc@gmail.com, Chris Yesson chris.yesson@ioz.ac.uk

       Derived  from code by Michael Shapiro, Olga Waupotitsch, Marjorie Larson, Jim Westervelt: U.S. Army CERL,
       1993. GRASS 4.1 Reference Manual.  U.S.  Army  Corps  of  Engineers,  Construction  Engineering  Research
       Laboratories, Champaign, Illinois, 1-425.

AUTHOR

       Matthew   Perry   <perrygeo@gmail.com>,   Even   Rouault   <even.rouault@spatialys.com>,   Howard  Butler
       <hobu.inc@gmail.com>, Chris Yesson <chris.yesson@ioz.ac.uk>

COPYRIGHT

       1998-2025

                                                  Nov 07, 2025                                        GDALDEM(1)

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

MODES

C API

AUTHORS

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

COPYRIGHT