Resumen

PEREZ VEGA, Azucena  y  MAS, Jean François. Error assessment of digital elevation models obtained by interpolation. Invest. Geog [online]. 2009, n.69, pp.53-67. ISSN 2448-7279.

There have been few studies focused on assessing the errors inherent of digital elevation models (DEM). For this reason, the errors of DEM obtained by different programs of interpolation (ARC/INFO, IDRISI, ILWIS and NEW-MIEL) and with different resolutions, were evaluated in order to obtain a more precise representation of the relief. This evaluation of the methods of interpolation is crucial, because DEMs are the most effective representation of the terrestrial surface for terrain analysis and are widely used in environmental sciences. The results show that the resolution, the interpolation algorithm and the inputs (contours only or along with streams and points) influence the amount of error importantly. In the present study, carried out with 50 m contour data in a mountainous area, the most suitable resolution was 30 m. The MDE with the minor error (Root Mean Square Error -RMSE- of 7.3 m) was obtained by ARC/ INFO. Nevertheless, free programmes such as NEW-MIEL or ILWIS allowed obtaining result with a RMSE of 10 m.

Palabras llave : Digital elevation model; error; interpolation; relief.

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