Problem opening a DEM in MicroDEM

[saramos]

I downloaded a 10 meter DEM for Willits in Mendocino County California from http://data.geocomm.com/catalog/US/61069/1017/group4-3.html. When I attempt to open the DEM, I receive a Not Acceptable DEM error message followed by a access violation error message.
Are there any known problems with opening some DEMs from geocomm?

Scott

 

[SharkNose]

There may be... I just tried myself and it was a multi-step process. It gives you a *.TAR.GZ file, which I had to uncompress twice using JZip. Once to get the TAR file and again on that to get the folder extracted. In that folder are a whole bunch of DDF files, which I'm not sure TransDem can read. These are SDTS format files. I tried quickly, so it may still be possible.

Maybe geophil will chime in here. You may be better off downloading from the USGS National Map Viewer here. Warning though, the 1/3 arc second files are huge! Some about 400 MB. But you can get quite a few routes from that!

 

[geophil]

I think this is about MicroDEM. MicroDEM should be able to open SDTS, at least it used to do so 10 years ago. When I started with TransDEM seriously, the USGS was already phasing out the SDTS format, hence I didn't bother.

 

[SharkNose]

My mistake! I did not read the subject line of the original post.

I should go back to bed!

 

[saramos]

I just picked up TranzDEM. I'll give it a try. I'm interested in the North Western Pacific line, which runs from the north end of the San Francisco Bay area to Eureka and in particular, the section from Willits south.
Using data from the National Map Viewer, it spans 3 data sets.

Scott

 

[saramos]

I located a small utility called stds2dem.exe which converts the .ddf files into a .dem file. Using this, I was able to open the resulting .dem file for Willits without problems in MicroDEM.
The utility can be downloaded at http://www.cs.arizona.edu/projects/topovista/sdts2dem/

Scott

 

[geophil]

Yes, I vaguely remember (quite a long time ago). What resolution are these SDTS files? As SharkNose already suggested, go for the NED DEMs. Those are big chunks, particularly in 1/3 arc sec, but TransDEM allows you to tailor them to your needs. Many of the 1/3 NED DEMs will show cuttings and embankments (high fills) you probably won't find in the older SDTS DEMs.