[postgis-users] SRTM data

[Stephen Woodbridge]

Bruce Bushby wrote:
> Hello
> 
> I'm hoping somebody on the list has some SRTM data experience and would
> be willing to share a few pointers?
> 
> I have downloaded various SRTM datasets (GTOPO30, SRTM30, SRTM1 and
> SRTM3). Is it possible to extract coordinate/height data and import into
> PostGIS? 
> 
> I've done a fair amount of research but I can't seem get my head around
> DEM, GeoTiff and Binary Rasta. Also, most of the searching suggests that
> the data can only be imported as a BLOB, in which case one doesn't need
> PostGIS. This further confuses me because Grass can import the data and
> generate Topo maps which are all about coordinates/Height.
> 
> Any tips and pointers much appreciated.

You probably want to look at GDAL which can process these and generate 
topo contours, I believe.

The real question is:

What to you want to do with these?
Assuming you have it loaded into PostGIS, then what?

This data is basically raster data and PostGIS does not support working 
with raster data at the moment.

-Steve