Elevation Special Interest Working Group (ESIG)

The National Digital Elevation Working Group was formed in late-2007 to offer technical assistance in the development of a high resolution national digital elevation database.

In August 2008 they released the ICSM Guidelines for Digital Elevation Data, Version 1.0   (401KB)

The purpose of this document is to provide investors, providers and users of elevation data with guidelines and recommendations for acquiring elevation data depicting the earth's surface based on current best practice. 

The Guidelines were prepared under the auspices of the National Elevation Data Framework (NEDF) initiative which is currently under development.  The ESIG Working Group involved experts from State/Territory and Federal mapping agencies, industry and academia. 

The purpose of the NEDF initiative is to develop a collaborative framework that can be used to increase the quality of elevation data and derived products such as Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) describing Australia's landform and seabed.  The aim is to optimise investment in existing and future data collections and provide access to a wide range of digital elevation data and derived products.

The Guidelines represent a first cut in the preparation of 'best practice' for Australia and have been prepared as an outcome of a review of existing available material from around Australia and selected countries.

These guidelines are considered a living document.  If you have any questions or comments on the guidelines please email ICSM Executive Officer at icsm@ga.gov.au.

For further information on the NEDF or these guidelines please visit the ANZLIC site at http://www.anzlic.org.au/nedf.html.

Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference for the ELEVATION Working Group is:

1. Develop technical guidelines and standards for the acquisition, processing and quality assurance of elevation data
   
   
2. Develop generic best practice 'Statements of Work' that may be used by agencies in developing project deliverables
   
   
3. Liaise with ICSM committees and other appropriate bodies to optimise alignment of activities
   
   
4. Facilitate national awareness of guidelines, best practice and standards

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