Following our geomoprhomerty.org 2011 conference in Redlands we created a group called geomorphomerty at arcgis.com. The objective is to facilitate and engage a larger community of people around the world outside geomorphometry.org, especially esri users as well as the general GIS community.
Group members can create and share maps within the group and to the public as well. As a start a selection of global landforms maps are displayed, which will be expanded in the future.
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT ARTICLES 1st OF MARCH
This is to remind you that the deadline to submit extended abstracts for the Geomorphometry 2011 conference is due in 6 days (1st of March).
We encourage all potential participants (and especially ones that require some additional time) to sign-up for this deadline at http://geomorphometry.org/content/geomorphometry-2011-paper-submission-deadline (you will need to be registered on the website to do this). This way we can have a good idea about how many people require some extra time, so that we can contact you to check status of your work (if your submission is not in the EasyChair system). To avoid any uncertainties please submit your article before the indicated deadline.
To prepare your article, please closely follow the author guidelines.
GEOMORPHOMETRY 2011 WORKSHOPS
The Geomorphometry 2011 Workshops have been published on the geomorphometry.org website. Workshops received so far are:
Workshops will take the form of either tutorials in a particular method or technique, or provide the opportunity for detailed discussion of upcoming topics. The workshops will be designed based on the sign-ups (after March 2011). A minimum requirement to run a workshop is to collect 10 active participants. To sign-up for a workshop follow the link from above and add your name by selecting “Sign-up for ***”. You will have to confirm your sign-up in May when we open the early registrations (Note: In principle, any user registered at this website can sign-up for workshops, however, only the users that register for the conference/workshops will be finally considered as active participants). The price for attending workshops has not yet been set, but it is likely to be in the range $100-150 USD.
If you have any questions about this conference please feel free to write to the conference organizers via mail: 2011@geomorphometry.org (this will forward your message to the Organizing Committee and the conference secretary).
all the best and hope to see you in California!
Geomorphometry 2011 open for registrations
We are happy to inform you that the registration for the Geomorphometry 2011 have now open (see also the daily programme). Prospective authors are invited to submit poster presentations for this conference. The registration costs are:
See the complete list of workshops. The deadline for early registration is 1st of July 2011. After you register for the conference and/or workshops, please sign-up for the workshops of interest (login to the geomorphometry.org, then go to the workshop of interest and select “sign-up”). A list of recommended accommodation is also available via the conference homepage.
We look forward to seeing you in Redlands!
New book on “Digital Terrain Analysis”
New book on Digital Terrain Analysis for soil and geology science by Igor Florinsky (Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russia) has been recently published via Elsevier. It includes sections on historical perspectives of digital terrain analysis and an introduction to theoretical concepts, examples of using DEMs for soil predictive mapping, and in geology e.g. to represent tectonic structures lineaments and faults. Book can be ordered via Amazon or directly via Elsevier’s website. A table of content is available via author’s homepage.
World as a potato? After just two years in orbit, ESA’s GOCE satellite has gathered enough data to map Earth’s gravity with unrivaled precision. Scientists now have access to the most accurate model of the ‘geoid’ ever produced to further our understanding of how Earth works. With a bit of exaggeration, one would get an idea that our globe is a large potato. The map of gravity undulations can be downloaded from here. See also the complete video about the project.
Short title: GDEMerr
A methodological framework for assessment of accuracy of a DEM product is described using four case studies (Booschord in the Netherlands, Calabria in Italy, Fishcamp in USA and Zlatibor in Serbia). Focus is put on evaluating the true accuracy of ASTER GDEM using LiDAR data aggregated to 30 m resolution. Three aspects of accuracy have been evaluated: (a) absolute accuracy of elevations (goodness of fit between true and GDEM elevations), (2) accuracy of stream networks (goodness of fit for buffer distance maps for stream networks), and (3) accuracy of surface roughness parameters (goodness of representation of nugget variation and residual errors).
Purpose and use:
Procedures are explained how to assess:
The script is attached to the paper indicated below.
Programming environment: R / S language
Status of work: Public Domain
Reference: How accurate and usable is GDEM? A statistical assessment of GDEM using LiDAR data
Data set name: Fishcamp
Attachment:
Geomorphometry 2011: Second Call for papers
The third Geomorphometry conference will be held in September 7-11, 2011 (Wednesday to Sunday) at the ESRI Campus Redlands, California, USA. Prospective authors are invited to submit extended abstracts of up to 4 pages (ca 2000 words) by 1st of March 2011. Extended abstracts must be original works by the authors, not be currently under review in the same form by another outlet and not submitted elsewhere prior to the notification date. The conference will host 6 keynotes plus 38 oral talks and a number of posters. In addition, three 2-day workshops will be held immediately after the conference (Saturday/Sunday; Redland Campus). Registration fees for the conference are $375 USD ($200 USD for PhD students). There are 23 days left to submit an extended abstract. For more info visit the official website: http://geomorphometry.org/2011
To submit an extended abstract, follow the author guidelines published at http://geomorphometry.org/content/manuscript-preparation-guidelines; abstracts (line numbered PDF) can be submitted via the EasyChair system at: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=geomorphometry2011
9 PhD Scholarships in GIScience, Salzburg, Austria
Doctoral College - DK-GIScience Salzburg in Austria has recently published an open call for 9 PhD Scholarships in the field of GIS Science. Requirements include the excellent completion of a degree at the Masters level in Geoinformatics, Geomatics, Geography, Computer Science or any scientific/technical subject in a relevant field, and excellent English language (both oral and writing) skills.
Annual brutto salary: 26.278 Euro per year (Gross)
Job duration: 3 years
For all inquiries, please contact giscience@sbg.ac.at
OpenTopography - publicly available elevation data
San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California has recently launched a portal to share High-Resolution Topography Data and Tools. Visit http://www.opentopography.org to obtain the publicly available data sets and tools. At the moment the portal offers a large number of LiDAR surveys (mainly in USA) and will hopefully lead to complete-coverage publicly available elevation data sets.
Geomorphometry is the science of quantitative land-surface analysis (also known as the science of DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELLING AND ANALYSIS). The focus of geomorphometry is calculation of surface-form measures (land-surface parameters) and features (objects), which may be used to improve the mapping and modelling of landforms, soils, vegetation, land use, natural hazards, and other information.
Latest Posts
Whitebox Workflows Next Gen, a complete rewrite of the Whitebox geospatial analysis platform, is now publicly available for Python, R, and QGIS.
Built from the ground up in pure Rust, Whitebox Next Gen provides more than 700 geospatial analysis tools for geomorphometry, terrain analysis, spatial hydrology, LiDAR processing, remote sensing, vector GIS, and spatial statistics. All three interfaces run on the same high-performance backend, allowing users to work in scripts, notebooks, statistical workflows, or a familiar desktop GIS environment.
Whitebox Next Gen is not an incremental update to the previous Whitebox architecture. It replaces the earlier monolithic system with a modular, full-stack geospatial platform. Core capabilities for raster and vector I/O, coordinate systems and reprojection, vector topology, spatial indexing, LiDAR processing, and other foundational operations are implemented directly within the Whitebox codebase rather than delegated to external C or C++ GIS libraries. This approach provides consistent cross-platform behaviour, fewer system-level dependencies, tighter control over performance and correctness, and greater flexibility for continued research and development
Highlights
Whitebox has particular strengths in terrain analysis, geomorphometry, spatial hydrology, and LiDAR processing. Whitebox Next Gen carries these areas forward while substantially expanding the project’s capabilities for vector analysis, remote sensing, modern spatial data formats, and reproducible geospatial workflows.
Get started
The geomorphometry community is invited to explore Whitebox Next Gen, test its tools and workflows, report issues, and contribute to the continued development of the project.
First round of the DEMIX exercise published final report
Global digital elevation models (DEMs) have become routine operational inputs across mapping, environmental monitoring, modelling and Earth-observation workflows. Their broad coverage and global availability have made them data that many practitioners simply take for granted. But knowledge of the terrain and topography of Earth’s surface is fundamental for monitoring and understanding terrestrial ecosystems and the planet’s habitability. For that reason, the CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) maintains a subgroup dedicated to digital topography and the quality of DEMs, the ‘Terrain Mapping Sub-Group (TMSG).
DEMs are representations of elevation in the form of a georectified grid, at global scale commonly derived from space-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) or stereoscopic optical observations, while regionally and locally airborne Laser induced detection and ranging (LIDAR) has become the primary source. DEMs can be classified as digital surface models (DSMs) when depicting the lower surface of the atmosphere or digital terrain models (DTMs) when depicting the top of the lithosphere (the Earth’s crust).
A wide variety of DEM products exist – each having different characteristics which suit different applications. It can be challenging to understand which of the available DEM products are fit for purpose for certain applications or regions. That is the practical gap addressed by the Digital Elevation Model Intercomparison Exercise (DEMIX) undertaken by TMSG. By exposing where widely used global DEMs agree, where they differ and how those differences affect rankings, the exercise delivered evidence to users for selecting a DEM rather than defaulting to one by habit.
DEM products were compared through a ‘wine contest,’ which identified requirements of openness, reproducibility, adaptability, and statistical rigour. The characteristics, evaluations, and ranking for each DEM were collected in a GIS database with over 50,000 entries. A quantitative assessment was carried out for each global DEM based on pixel-by-pixel differences of geomorphometric parameters against finer spatial resolution (1-5 m resolution) reference DEMs.
The study incorporates an unprecedented amount of high quality reference data covering a broad range of landforms and surface types, comparing their characteristics without resampling or interpolation. Users are invited to consult the results of DEMIX in order to make informed choices when needing to use a DEM, or in some cases a combination of the most relevant DEMs for their applications.
The final rankings of the wine contest, presented below, compared the six DEMs based on land cover (forest, urban, or barren), slope (cliff, steep, gentle, or flat), differences in elevation, slope and roughness, and statistical metrics.
Led by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) Terrain Mapping Subgroup (TMSG) established DEMIX in partnership with the International Society for Geomorphometry. Several members of the International Society of the Geomorphometry contributed significantly and we hosted various secssions at our latest conference. The exercise was performed over a three-year period starting in 2020, with community-wide calls for participation and an assembly of experts producing a number of peer-reviewed publications, culminating with a JRC reference report published in July 2026.
The objective of DEMIX was to propose a procedure to rank the available free and open global DEMs, taking into consideration user needs while promoting the implementation of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles. The exercise compared DEMs based on criteria for land cover and terrain slope categories, representative testing, and a statistically sound ranking approach. The report outputs tailored recommendations regarding available DEM products that are not limited to one domain, geographic area, or landscape type, with flexibility for different user needs and applications.
A major challenge in the comparison of the global DEMs were the varying formats, data, and metadata contents. The adoption of a common set of standards would enhance the quality and interoperability of global DEMs and streamline the exchange and utilisation of DEM data for both providers and users. DEMIX makes the following recommendations for data providers:
● Adopt a standardised grid layout, with complete grid definitions and encodings following ISO/OGC rules.
● Include vertical datum information as part of raster DEM files.
● Clearly indicate the product version in the file names.
● Participate in future DEMIX rounds, which serve as a neutral platform for independently evaluating products before their release.
● Provide high quality, finer resolution, accurate, and multi-temporal elevation data to be used as a reference alongside DEM products.
Global DEMs are indispensable operational geospatial datasets, but they should not be treated as error-free or interchangeable. DEMIX delivered to the global community a systematic and transparent method to help choose elevation products more intelligently and help define what better elevation measurements should look like in the future.
Read more in the DEMIX Final Report, or see other DEMIX publications below - mainly by our ISG members:
Building the world’s largest repository of FAIR drone mapping data
Paul Mead
GeoNadir
September 2nd, 2026
11:30 (UTC)
Bio: Paul Mead is Co-founder and Head of Business & Strategy at GeoNadir, a platform building the world’s largest repository of FAIR drone mapping data to support environmental decision-making. A non-technical co-founder, Paul focuses on strategy, commercial development, and building high-performing teams — a discipline shaped by 11 years in the New Zealand Army, including leading a bomb disposal team in Lebanon and service in Afghanistan and the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2013 he has built and led several small businesses and start-ups, with drones as a central technology since 2016. Alongside GeoNadir, Paul co-founded She Maps, an internationally recognised drone and geospatial STEM education organisation, and has helped raise over $7M in equity and non-equity funding across his ventures. He holds a Master of Philosophy from the University of Queensland and is a Chartered Manager.
Abstract: GeoNadir set out to build the world’s largest repository of FAIR drone mapping data, and ended up building something more powerful. Drones have democratised data capture, but the same democratised ability to generate decision-grade insights from the data is lacking. I’ll walk through how we’re closing that gap: the data infrastructure behind hosting large volumes of UAV imagery and derived products, and how we’re moving from manual analysis toward automated, repeatable geospatial analytics.