www.library.carleton.

ca/find/gis

Global Mapper
GlobalMapperisaviewercapableofdisplayingthemostpopularGISraster,
eleva on,andvectordatasets,allowinguserstoeasilyview,editandexporttheir
datainmul pleformats.

This help guide will show you how to:

LoadaDigitalEleva onModel(DEM)
ViewtheDEMin3D
Createaneleva onprofilegraph
ExporttheDEMtoa3DmeshforuseinAutoCAD
GeneratecontoursfromtheDEM
Exportthecontoursto.DWGor.SHPformats

Figure1:theopeningwindowofGlobalMapper

Loading a DEM into Global Mapper

WhenyoufirstopenGlobalMapper,itwilllooklike
Figure1.Clickonthefirstop ontoOpenYourOwn
DataFiles.Inthefilebrowserwindowthatpopsup,
navigatetotheDEMfileyouwishtoopen.
Alterna vely,inaseparatefiledirectorywindowyou Figure2:aloadedDEMshowingtheCityofO awa
cannavigatetoyourDEMfileandclickanddragit
intoGlobalMapper.TheDEMshouldloadasshownin
Figure2.Thelegendonthele sideshowstheeleva
oncolourramp.
Important:Se ngtheProjec onensuresproper
measurements
ClickonToolsthenConfigureandensurethatthe
correctprojec onisset.Theprojec onusedshould
beUTMandcorrespondtothecorrectzone.To
determinetheappropriateUTMzone,gototheindex:
h p://www.library.carleton.ca/interac veindexes
anddoubleclickontheUTM_Index.kmlfiletoopen
inGoogleEarth.Thelast2digitsofeachindex
correspondstotheUTMzone.

Control
Centre

Zoom
in/out

Pan Measure

Iden fy

Figure3:TheMainToolsontheToolbar

3DEleva onProfile

Show3Dview

GlobalMappersupportsviewingofmanypopulardataformats,including:DEM,DGN,DXF,ECW,MrSID,
ESRIShapefiles,E00,MapInfoMIF/MID,MapInfoTAB/MAP,SRTM,JPG,PNG,BIL,BSQ,BIPetc.

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GlobalMapper

Viewing the DEM in 3D

Whenviewingfileswithaneleva oncomponent,suchas
DEMsorLiDAR,youcanclickontheShow3DView
bu on(seeFigure3onpreviouspage).Thiswillopenan3D
Viewwindowwhereyoucanpan,zoom,androtatethe
viewusingthebyclickingonthetooliconsshownhere:

Figure4(le ):a3DviewofGa neauParkfromtheO awaDEM.

Creating an Elevation Pro ile

Aneleva onprofilegraphwillshowyoutheeleva oninacrosssec onoftheDEM.,asshowninFigure6.To
start,clickonthe3DEleva onProfilebu on(seefigure3onpreviouspage).ThiswillpopupaTipbox,
towhichyoucanjustclickOKto.

Withthecursor,clicktodrawalineacrosstheDEMforwhichyouareinterestedinseeingtheeleva onpro
filefor(Figure5).Le clickingwillstopdrawingyourlineandtheeleva onpathprofilewindowwillpopup.
Figure5:theeleva onprofilecrosssec online

Figure6(below):theeleva onprofilegraphshowingchanging
eleva onoverdistance.

Exporting a DEM to a 3D .DXF Mesh for AutoCAD

A3DsurfacemodelforuseinAutoCADcanbecreatedbyexpor ngtheDEMintoaDXFmesh.Thefirststepisto
roughlyzoomintotheareayouareinterestedinexpor ng.Trynottotaketoomuchexcessarea,inordertospeedup
thedrawingprocessofthemesh.

Onceyourezoomedintoyourarea,clickonFilethenExportEleva on

gridFormat.ThiswillpopuptheSelect
ExportFormatwindow(Figure7).Fromthedropdownmenu,selectthe
DXF
meshfileformat;thenclickOK.
Figure7:theSelectExportFormatpopupwindow

Con nuedonnextpage..

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GlobalMapper

Exporting a DEM to a 3D .DXF Mesh for AutoCAD ...continued

Next,aDXFMeshExportOp onsboxwillappear(Figure8).Youcanchangethepa
rameterstowhateversuitsyourdataset,butremembertocheckONtheInterpolate
toFillinSmallGapsintheData.
Secondly,clickontheExportboundstab,thentheDrawaBoxbu ontomorespe
cificallyselectyourareatoexportbydrawingaboxinthepopupwindow.Everything
insidethisboxwillbeexportedtoyourmesh.
OnceyoupressOk,afilebrowserwindowwillpopup.Locateyouroutputfolderand
givethemeshanappropriatename.Theexpor ngwillbegin...thismaytakesome me
dependingonthesizeofyourarea.
Figure8(le ):theDXFMeshExport
Op ons(General)window.

Figure9(right):theDXFMesh
ExportOp ons(ExportBounds)
window.

Onceyourmeshisdone
expor ng,openitinAutoCAD
Map3D.

Whenitfirstopens,youwill
onlyseeblackoragreygrid.
Clickonthe3Dbu onto
viewthemeshproperlyin3D,
asseeninFigure10.

Clickonthe3Dbu ontoini atethisview.

Figure10(le ):
The3Dmesh
surfaceshownin
AutoCADMap3D

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Generating Contours

GlobalMapper

ContourscanbegeneratedeasilyinGlobalMapperbyclickingonFile,thenGenerate
Contours...ThiswillopentheContourGenera onOp onswindow,asshowninFigure
11.ThemainthingyouhavetofilloutistheContourInterval;however,youcancus
tomizesomeoftheotherop onsasyouseefit.Thesmallerthecontourintervals,the
longeritwilltaketogenerate.
Similarly,ifyouclickontheSimplifica ontab,youwillseeaslider(Figure12).Tothe
le createssmoothercontours(i.e.lessangular),buttakesabitmore me.
Toselecttheareayouwishtogeneratethecontoursfor,clickontheContourBounds
tabandselecttheDrawaBoxbu on.PressOKonceyouaredonetostartthecontour
genera on.

Figure11:theContourOp onswindow

Figure12:theSimplifica ontab

Figure13:thenewly
createdcontours.
Toexporttheses
contoursasvectorsin
SHPorDWGformats,
selectfromthemenu
FilethenExportVector
Format

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