Elevation Grid Properties
In CivilGEO’s software, the user can include more than one terrain surface or elevation grid in the project. Each added elevation grid can be independently stylized. The software can compute a color ramp and generate a color fill display for each grid, making it easier to differentiate terrain surfaces on the Map View. The color fill settings are saved with the project, so they are available the next time the project is opened.
The Elevation Grid Properties dialog box provides control over how each terrain surface is displayed, including border style, color fill scheme, transparency, and hillshading. The dialog box also allows the user to view elevation grid metadata, assign a spatial reference, and access layer transformation settings.
Follow the steps below to view and edit elevation grid properties.
- From the Map Data Layers panel, click the […] button next to the elevation grid layer.
- The Elevation Grid Properties dialog box will be displayed.
The following sections describe how to use the Elevation Grid Properties dialog box.
General Options
The General Options tabbed panel contains the display and visualization settings for the elevation grid. The different sections within this tabbed panel are described below:
General Information
This section contains read-only information about the elevation grid file, including the system file path, cell dimensions, cell count, and overall grid dimensions. The units shown for the cell and grid dimensions change based on the current project unit settings.
Default Elevation Grid Stylization
This section is used to define various elevation grid stylizations, such as border color, border size, and color fill options. If the Enable grid smoothing option is checked, the software improves the color shading used to display colorized (i.e., color ramp) elevation grids. This option makes the colorization sharper and clearer, showing more details relative to elevation changes within the grid.
Elevation Color Fill
This section provides options for rendering the terrain surface using an elevation-based color ramp. This helps the user visually identify high and low areas, terrain breaks, drainage pathways, and relative elevation changes across the project area. By default, this section is disabled (i.e., grayed out). Check the checkbox at the Elevation Color Fill section to enable the content of this section.
If the Dynamically resample elev range option is selected, then the software dynamically renders the color shading based on the terrain’s elevation range. As the user zooms into a flat area, the software automatically adjusts the maximum and minimum elevations for the visible raster extents, producing a full range of color shades that show fine elevation detail in the current view. By default, this option is selected.
If the Automatic elevation range option is selected, then the software automatically utilizes the maximum and minimum elevation values across the entire raster grid to define the color fill range. This provides a consistent color scheme regardless of the current zoom level.
If the User-defined option is selected, then the underlying options are enabled, allowing the user to define a custom color fill scheme for the entire elevation grid. By default, the Max elev and Min elev fields display the terrain’s maximum and minimum elevations, respectively. The user can also change these maximum and minimum elevations, and their corresponding elevation differences are displayed in the Range read-only field. Clicking the [Reset] button resets the elevation values to their default values.
In the Data ramp subsection, the user can define the color scheme and interval for the color ramp that will be used to depict the range of elevation color fill. The Interval’s spin control option allows the user to define the interval of the color ramp. The default data ramp interval is 5. The Color scheme dropdown combo box allows the user to select the color scheme for the color ramp.
In the data grid containing Elevations values and Color palette columns, the user can select specific colors for the defined elevation range. Note that the number of intervals defined in the Data ramp subsection determines the number of rows created in the Elevation values and Color palette table.
Any elevations above the user-defined upper elevation limit can be assigned a color using the Above upper limit dropdown color palette.
Checking the Map Data Layer legend and Map View legend checkboxes causes the software to create a color fill legend for the elevation grid in the Map Data Layers panel and on the Map View, respectively.
The Color blending checkbox causes the software to enable color blending when there is not enough color range to represent all colors between the brightest and darkest points of a gradient.
If the Hillshading option is checked, the terrain is rendered using a hillshading effect that produces shadows based on a directional light source, enhancing the 3D appearance of the terrain surface.
Fill Transparency
This section is used to change the transparency of the elevation grid color fill, allowing the base map or other layers beneath the terrain to show through. A transparency value of 40 to 50% works well.
Spatial Reference
The Spatial Reference tabbed panel allows the user to manually assign the project's coordinate reference system (CRS) to an elevation grid that does not contain embedded CRS information, provided the grid's coordinates fall within the project's CRS extent. Refer to this article in our knowledge base to learn more about spatial reference.
Transformation
The Transformation tabbed panel allows the user to automatically apply a transformation scale factor to the elevation grid layer, so it maps accurately to the project's coordinate reference system (CRS). Refer to this article in our knowledge base to learn more about layer transformation.
Layer Metadata
The Layer Metadata tabbed panel displays descriptive metadata associated with the elevation grid, including the layer name, resolution, source grids, grid dimensions, data type, and pixel format. The user can use the [Copy Text] button to copy the elevation grid metadata to the clipboard for use in reports or documentation.
