I know about those in TransDEM. I can’t think of a way for N3V to add all that in. TransDEM does a lot of things to make it easier for us.
We have this wonderful new capability but 3rd party tools will not be able to adapt to it. N3V will not release any information on internal formats, there is no intermediate formats, TNI doesn’t cover surveyor, and the file formats keep changing. My opinion is 3rd party software is going to die out in most cases.
I have spent hours this weekend trying to decipher HD Terrain just for the basic height. I have ideas, but I don’t know how many more hours it will take. The previous 5/10m mapfile_x_y.gnd was at least understandable for the height points, although I have to figure out the edges between the baseboards.
Sorry, I got in to this as I realized my request for DEM import is only part of the needed solution.
Don't be sorry. It's sad that N3V won't release that information to third-party developers such as Dr. Ziegler who could update his flagship program to handle the latest data formats. They could do it I suppose under license like many developers do but sadly they do not. Tony, to his credit did mention that they may consider doing direct DEM support but who knows when. It would be nice if they partnered with Dr. Ziegler and integrated TransDEM capabilities within the program.
N3V never offered direct support for anything like the tiles and that's done through scenery objects like the basemaps. This has its advantages and disadvantages, but it works.
The ground structure is different in HD terrain from what I understand. N3V for one got rid of the edge of the baseboards and the terrain is tessellated to add in the additional faces and increase the resolution. If they did it right, this could be applied to areas where needed instead of globally on a baseboard or route basis. Imagine tessellating just an area near a ravine or mountain slope to increase resolution there and nowhere else unless it's needed. That I think would be much more efficient overall.