Compared with Other Tools
Where Terrain Viewer fits next to RVT, QGIS, Google Earth, Cesium, OpenTopography, GeoLibre, forge3d and the rest, and when each is the better choice
Terrain Viewer is a browser viewer for elevation data: nothing to install, data streamed from where it already lives, every view shareable as a link. That makes it quick for looking, comparing and sharing, and lighter than the tools below for heavy processing. When one of them is the better choice, it says so.
| Tool | Best at | Terrain Viewer, by comparison |
|---|---|---|
| RVT, Relief Visualization Toolbox | The reference set of relief visualizations for archaeology (sky-view factor, openness, local relief model, multi-scale and blended recipes), computed at full resolution on local files, as a Python library and QGIS plugin | Several of the same visualizations, computed in the browser on streamed data, with no download and a link to share. RVT has more algorithms and blend recipes and processes a whole survey exactly; use it for publication or for a whole survey. |
| QGIS | A complete desktop GIS: any data, any projection, analysis, map layout and printing | Nothing to set up for just looking, and national LiDAR services already wired in. QGIS for anything beyond viewing, measuring and exporting a view. |
| Google Earth | Imagery, photorealistic 3D cities and, in Earth Pro, historical imagery | Terrain analysis and your own elevation data, which Google Earth does not do; Terrain Viewer's historical mode reads the same Google Earth historical imagery. Google Earth for photorealistic 3D. |
| Cesium (CesiumJS, Cesium ion) | Streaming 3D Tiles, photogrammetry and global terrain on a precise ellipsoid, plus hosting | Terrain analysis and relief visualization, which Cesium leaves to the developer; Terrain Viewer reads Cesium quantized-mesh terrain as one of its sources. Cesium for 3D Tiles, meshes and building your own 3D application. |
| OpenTopography | Finding, downloading and processing high-resolution topography: point clouds, on-demand DEMs and derivatives | Viewing that data without downloading it: Terrain Viewer reads OpenTopography's VRT mosaics in the browser. OpenTopography for the data itself and point-cloud processing. |
| GeoLibre | A cloud-native GIS in the browser, desktop, mobile and Jupyter, for any geospatial layer, 3D Tiles included | Specialised in terrain: more elevation sources and relief modes, comparison and export built for DEMs. GeoLibre as a general-purpose GIS. |
| forge3d | Path-traced, print-resolution terrain renders from Python, with global illumination and headless batch rendering | Interactive and live rather than offline, with analysis modes; its Matcap and Phong shading are real-time approximations. forge3d for the most beautiful still image of a place. |
| Tangram Heightmapper | A quick greyscale heightmap of the current view, with auto-contrast, in one page | Real elevation values as GeoTIFF, plus every other mode. Heightmapper for a fast greyscale image. |
| ShadeMap | Where terrain and building shadows fall at any date and time, worldwide | The reverse question as well: the Sun and Shadow Calculator finds the date and time from a shadow in a photograph. ShadeMap for sun and shade planning. |
Where the algorithms come from
Much here is ported rather than invented: slope and aspect follow GDAL's gdaldem (the Horn gradient), the relief visualizations follow RVT's formulations, Google Earth historical imagery follows GEHistoricalImagery, and the histogram matching of Compare and Blend comes from Iconem's historical-satellite. The full list is on Credits and Inspiration.