Accuracy assessment of open-source global digital elevation models (GDEMs) with global navigation satellite system (GNSS) levelling

Abstract

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER ), Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010 (GMTED2010), Advanced Land Observing Satellite World-3D (ALOSW3D), and TerraSAR-X Digital Elevation Measurement (TanDEM-X) are open-source Digital Elevation Model (DEM) datasets for environmental modelling and studies. The spatial resolution and vertical accuracy of DEM data sources play a significant role, particularly in dealing with land inundation, periodic flooding, and coastal erosion. In this study, the comparison between orthometric height, H from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observation, and DEM is performed to evaluate the accuracy of each DEM in terms of their Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient, R2 for monitoring the coastline. The result has indicated that TanDEM-X shows the smallest RMSE of 2.574 m compared to SRTM30, SRTM90, ASTER, GMTED10, and ALOSW3D with RMSE of 2.968 m, 3.006 m, 3.217 m, 2.975 m, and 2.876 m respectively. Furthermore, TanDEM-X illustrates the largest correlation coefficients, R2 of 0.959 m, compared to SRTM30, SRTM90, ASTER, GMTED10, and ALOSW3D at 0.891 m, 0.899 m, 0.590 m, 0.888 m 0.913 m respectively. Hence, the result has indicated that TanDEM-X is the best option among all DEMs for any topographic applications.