FalconView (#1) - Importing elevation data into FalconView (#251) - Message List

The only topographic data that FalconView reads is DTED, which is a standard primarily used my the military. I was able to convert 1/3 arc-second NED data to DTED3 and bring it in to FalconView using the following steps:

1. I downloaded the data from  USGS in ArcGrid format. I downloaded a one degree by one degree rectangle since this is how DTED usually comes.
2. I used  MicroDEM with the  FWTools option to convert the ArcGrid topo data to a DTED3 tile. It took some fooling with MicroDEM to get the right options. As I recall, I had to select the DTED3 option, had to constrain the export to the proper lat / lon square, and had to select the option to force one degree cells.
3. I added the DTED3 tile to the proper place in my map data folder. I then used the map data manager to do a "data check" on that folder so that FalconView would catalog the new data.

After I did all of the above, I could generate contours using the higher-resolution DTED3, and I could hover over points to get the elevation (see the attachment to this discussion for the screen capture).

Generating contours was very slow and even crashed (!) FalconView if I made the spacing too close. I suspect that generating close contours for a relatively small area is not a common use case. Also, I couldn't get the shaded topographic map to draw with the DTED3, which is a big bummer. I opened ticket #1280 for these issues.

You can download the DTED3 for the area from  http://www.falconview.org:8080/trac/FalconView/downloads/20 but use it at your own risk!