USGS DEM Converter

Utility to convert USGS format DEMs into LandSerf format.

USGS DEM (Thunder Bay E)

Background

LandSerf will import 7.5 minute USGS DEMs in the USGS 'native' format. However it will fail for DEMs using geographic (latitude/longitude) coordinates, such as 1 degree (3 arc-second resolution) DEMs. This utility can be used to import such DEMs by converting them into LandSerf .srf files.

Installation Instructions

To install the USGS DEM reader, download the appropriate file below and uncompress into your LandSerf installation folder (e.g. c:\Program Files\landserf210). This should create a sub-folder called addons with several files including USGSDEMReader.bat and USGSDEMReader.sh.

Running USGSDEMReader

To run USGSDEMReader, open a command prompt in Windows (Start menu->Run...->cmd) or a shell/terminal window in Linux/MacoSX. Change to the directory in which the converter is installed (e.g. cd c:"Program Files"\landserf210\addons) and type USGSDEMReader USGSDEMName.dem where USGSDEMName.dem is the USGS DEM file to convert.

Examples

USGSDEMReader c:\data\tupelow-w.dem (Windows)
or
./USGSDEMReader.sh ~/data/tupelow-w.dem (Linux/MacOSX)

Running the converter using either of the examples above would create a new file called tupelow-w.srf in the same directory as the original USGS file.