[Gdal-dev] Distinguish between georeferenced images and height fields

[Frank Warmerdam]

Michael84 wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> is there any possibility to distinguish between georeferenced images and
> height fields (both geoTiffs) ?

Michael,

There is no reliable way to distinguish.

But there are a number of clues that a file isn't a height field:
  o more than one sample (band).
  o Data type is not float32 or int16.

But, for instance, gdal generates 16bit elevation geotiffs exactly the
same way it generates 16bit greyscale image geotiffs.  In fact, GDAL doesn't
for the most part know if an image is a height field.

Best regards,
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