Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817

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Ain Shams Engineering Journal

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Civil Engineering

Vertical accuracy assessment for SRTM and ASTER Digital Elevation

Models: A case study of Najran city, Saudi Arabia
Ismail Elkhrachy
Faculty of Engineering-Civil Department, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia
Faculty of Engineering-Civil Department, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Digital Elevation Model is imperative to many earth surface process analyses. In this study, the quality of
Received 5 February 2016 DEMs acquired by SRTM ver.3 and ASTER ver.2 is evaluated. The reference levels produced from GPS ele-
Revised 12 January 2017 vations, and the topographic map is used to assess the vertical accuracy of SRTM and ASTAR DEMs in
Accepted 19 January 2017
Najran city, Saudi Arabia. The GPS reference elevations gave us the values of ±5.94 m and ±5.07 m for
Available online 29 January 2017
used SRTM and ASTER DEMs. Also, by using elevation from the topographic map as a reference elevations
the obtained accuracy was ±6.87 m and ±7.97 m for SRTM and ASTER DEMs. For our study area, the 30 m
Keywords:
SRTM elevations data featured a much greater absolute vertical accuracy than the absolute vertical accu-
DEM
Accuracy assessment
racy value of ±16 m, which published in the SRTM data specification.
SRTM Ó 2017 Ain Shams University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under
ASTER the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Topographic maps
GPS

1. Introduction the value of each pixel is associated with a specific topographic

A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a 3D representation of the
bare ground surface without any objects, like plants and buildings.
Digital Surface Model (DSM) represents the surface of the earth
and includes all objects on it. All captured data from satellites
are originally DSMs [1,2]. DEMs are often used in geographic infor-
mation systems (GIS) and are the most common basis for digitally-
produced relief maps. The DSM may be useful for landscape mod-
eling, visualization applications, and 3D digital city implementa-
tions [3]. The DTM is often required for flood or drainage
modeling, land-use studies, geological applications and other uses
[4,5]. The majority of social and environmental processes should be
globally investigated; therefore the study of such a process
requires global datasets. Many efforts to assemble global elevation
datasets have been undertaken. Global elevation datasets are inevi-
tably subjected to errors, mainly due to the methodology followed
to extract elevation information and the various processing steps
the models have undergone (e.g. interpolation) [6,7]. A DEM can
be represented as a raster. A raster is an image matrix in which
E-mail address: I.Elkhrachy@yahoo.com
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
height or as a vector-based Triangular Irregular Network (TIN).
There are three basic data sources for the creation of DEMs:
data from digitized topographic maps, field data collected with
GPS receivers or total station leveling, and digital aerial pho-
tographs or satellite images. These techniques can be compared
considering four aspects (i.e., price, accuracy, sampling density,
preprocessing requirements). Each technique has its particular
advantages but also some disadvantages. Nowadays, surveying
engineers frequently use remote sensing rather than direct survey
data to get DEMs. The importance of aerospace observation is evi-
dent: satellites carrying a variety of sensors and looking toward the
earth can collect data, at relatively low costs, broadly consistent
with the required spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions to
interpolate new DEMs [8].
In 1986, SPOT was the first satellite to provide stereoscopic
images that allowed the extraction of DEMs over vast areas of
the Earth’s surface. In 2003, NASA released the SRTM (v3) DEM free
data set for some regions, with one arc-second resolution (approx-
imately 30 m at the equator) for the globe. It has a vertical error
reported to be less than ±16 m [9], and it is available in 5
degree
5-degree tiles, in geographic decimal degrees (Latitude
and Longitude) projection, with the World Geodetic System 1984
(WGS84) horizontal datum and Earth Gravitational Model
(EGM96) geoid vertical datum. The data is projected in a Geo-
graphic (Lat/Long) projection, with the WGS84 horizontal datum
and the EGM96 vertical datum.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.01.007
2090-4479/Ó 2017 Ain Shams University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
1808 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817
The ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model Version 2 (GDEM V2)
is also a free DEM that covers land surfaces between 83 deg. N and
83 deg. S. The data which is in geographic decimal coordinates (lat-
itude and longitude) is posted on one arc-second. The data was ref-
erenced to WGS84, EGM96 vertical datum.
Another commonly used method for an extracting relative or
absolute elevation information is Interferometric Synthetic Aperture
Radar (InSAR). It is a technique to extract three-dimensional informa-
tion of the topography from the phase data of the SAR signal which
has been widely applied in the generation of DEM and topographic
maps. InSAR method employs pairs of high-resolution SAR images
to generate high-quality terrain elevation maps using phase interfer-
ometry methods. InSAR provides an all-weather, day/night capability
to produce measurements of terrain elevation on a dense grid of sam-
ple points with accuracies of one’s of meters. The necessary data can
be collected either by the same antenna during two different passes
(Earth Resources Satellites 1 and 2), or by two antennas during the
same pass (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, SRTM) [10].
Errors in DEM are widely recognized to comprise mainly two
components, the horizontal, often referred as the positional accu-
racy of X and Y components, and the vertical component or the accu-
racy of the attribute [11,12]. However, positional and attributive
accuracy generally cannot be separated; the error may be due to
an incorrect elevation value at the correct position, or a proper ele-
vation for an incorrect position or any combination of these. It is nec-
essary to illustrate possible error sources to calculate the quality of
DEMs derived from SRTM or ASTER. Three groups are affecting the
uncertainties of SRTM and ASTER DEMs. The first one characterizes
the system parameters during data acquisition: baseline length
and orientation, phase, slant range and position of the antenna.
The second group deals with raw data processing steps, and the last
group contains the influences of vegetation and land cover. For
example, [13] has reported that an error of one arc sec in the baseline
tilt, causes an elevation error of 1.5 m at a ground range of 300 km.
Also, a 1-m error in the baseline length will lead to an elevation error
of 0.5 m. The SRTM version 3 was used for this research instead of the
previous version because it has been updated and then released after
using sophisticated interpolation and hole filling algorithms which
make use of ancillary data sources when they are available [14]. It
has an overall accuracy of around ±16 m at 95% confidence level.
For both products (DEMs from ASTER and SRTM), it is important to
examine the quality of the dataset before usage carefully.
Several researchers have checked the accuracy of SRTM and
ASTER in many places by using Ground Control Points (GCP) mea-
sured by differential GPS or by using elevations from topographic
maps (e.g., [15–19]). According to [20], the performance for SRTM
DSMs over a grid of 1 arc-second by one arc-second for Eurasia
showed an absolute geolocation and height errors (90% of probabil-
ity) of ±8.8 and ±6.2 m, respectively. In this paper, the quality of
SRTM and ASTER DEMs for Najran city were examined by using
two reference elevations: topographic map with 1:10,000 scale
and GCPs were provided by GPS measurements differentially cor-
rected using the GPS base station of Najran City Municipality.
2. Objective
The overall purpose of this paper is to perform an accuracy
assessment of the free to download DEMs: SRTM and ASTER for
the area of Najran city, Saudi Arabia.
3. Test site and datasets
3.1. Test site
Najran city, located on the Southwest side of Saudi Arabia
(Fig. 1), extends between the latitude of 15 deg. to 17 deg. N and
the longitude 40 to 45 deg. E. An area approximately 45 km by
20 km, characterized by moderate to high relief with elevations
from 1080 m to 2252 m above vertical datum. The study area is
surrounded by high mountains from North, South, and West. It
includes various land use activities including residential, urban
and agricultural as well as road networks. As the study area has
high elevation differences, it is important to examine the accuracy
for the used DEMs. The coordinate system is UTM zone 38 north.
3.2. Available DEM’s
Two open source DEM’s with different precision and coverage
were used for the study;
The global 1-arcsecond (30-m) SRTM DEM is now being made
publicly available through, for example, the United States Geo-
logical Survey’s EarthExplorer site. The SRTM elevation data for
the study area was downloaded from (http://earthexplorer.
usgs.gov) website. The Downloaded data was then projected
to UTM coordinate system zone 38 N, using ArcMap [21].
Fig. 2 shows the first elevation data for the study area.
The ASTER was launched on board of NASA’s Terra spacecraft in
December 1999. ASTER has three spectral bands in the Visible
Near-Infrared (VNIR), six bands in the Shortwave Infrared
(SWIR), and in the Thermal Infrared Regions (TIR), with 15,
30, and 90 m ground resolution, respectively. The original data
were: (1) augmented with an additional 260,000 overlapping
images, and (2) refined to decrease the incidence of data arti-
facts, improved the spatial resolution, and increased the accu-
racy of water body coverage [22]. The resulting DEM is
available online at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ website, from
which title No. N17E044, covering the Najran city test site, was
downloaded, as shown in Fig. 3.
4. Reference elevation data
The accuracy and quality of reference data should be at least
one order better than the data to be evaluated. In the case of using
SRTM or ASTER DEM, the expected vertical accuracy is about ±16 m
absolute and ±6 m relative, as mentioned above. Further descrip-
tion and comparison for both SRTM and ASTER DEMs are shown
in Table 1.
The use of reference data with a precision of a few decimeters
up to one meter is needed. Such data are available from two
sources; 1:10,000 topographical map of the study site and GPS data
randomly distributed over the location area. As mentioned above,
the SRTM elevation data represent a DSM, whereas the reference
data describe the terrain. These considerations lead to the problem
of comparing two data sets with different elevation definitions.
Information about the actual land cover and height of 3D objects
such as man-made features are used to solve this issue. The refer-
ence points should lie clear of vegetation and buildings. A land-
scape map was produced and used to classify the control points
[24]. Many point in urban regions or inside or near forests were
excluded.
4.1. Topographic maps
One topographic map sheet at the scale of 1:10,000 covering a
part of the study site was selected to use as a reference for analyz-
ing the SRTM and ASTER elevation data. The map has been pre-
pared photographically by Almisehal Commercial Group Ltd.
(http://www.almisehal.com/index.php/en/mapping) from aerial
photography taken in 2006 and was digitally compiled from the
resultant aerial triangulation data under the supervision of Saudi
Arabia’s General Commission for Survey. The map sheet was digi-
 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817 1809

Fig. 1. Study area location map.

Fig. 2. SRTM 30 m
30 m DEM for Najran city and reference points.

tized to a JPEG file format. The file contains layers (spot height,
contour lines and built-up) as part of the input datasets
within the framework of an ongoing state-wide topographical
mapping project undertaken by Najran Municipality (http://
www.najran.gov.sa/Pages/default.aspx). The spot heights layer
has prepared and selected as the reference elevations from topo-
graphic map. The map had the UTM projection (Zone 38) and ver-
tical datum mean sea level Jeddah 1969. The map had a contour
interval of 10 m. The used elevation must be transferred to
EGM96 geoid. The vertical offset between KSA geoid and
1810 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817

Fig. 3. ASTER 30 m
30 m DEM for Najran city and reference points.

Table 1 1. Open new project and add map JPEG file.

DEM source data characteristics. 2. Right clock the image and select image properties, and then
Data ASTER DEM SRTM DEM specify projection information for the scanned image. Select
Acquisition technique Satellite stereo images RADAR
edit and add UTM zone 38 N projection system.
Format GeoTIFF GeoTIFF 3. Open Georeferencing tool, and locate and define at least four
Vertical datum EGM96 EGM96 control points with ‘‘add control point” tool.
Spatial resolution 1 arc-second 1 arc-second 4. Choose transformation calculation method, first order polyno-
Projection system Geographic Geographic
mial for example.
RMSE specification (m) 17 [23] 7.59
5. Pay attention to the RMS value [‘Residual’ field]. Its value should
not be greater than (1/2) pixel. Fig. 4 shows results of image
transformation step based on five control points and first-
EGM2008 geoid averages about one-half meter (0.58 m) [25]. order polynomial model (RMS = 0.35 m).
Also, we found that the difference between EGM2008 and 6. Finally, Select ‘‘Rectify” to save a new transformed image. Fig. 5
EGM96 is 5 cm. To use such a JPEG file map in an ArcMap, we must shows topographic map after georeferencing with its spot
first georeference it. Our scanned map has a UTM map projection elevations.
and mean sea level (Jeddah, 1969) as a vertical datum. The next
steps followed to georeference the JPEG file map using the ArcMap After doing the georeferencing step, collect the spot levels from
software: the topographic map as reference elevations and save them into a

Fig. 4. Results of the georeferencing processing for used topographic map.

 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817 1811

Fig. 5. Topographic map with its spot elevations after georeferencing.

Fig. 6. Satellite images with 50 cm resolution for the study area.

separate layer. There is also satellite image with 50 cm resolution
available for the study area. Fig. 6 shows the used satellite image.
The satellite image also georeferenced by using GPS ground
control points. The achieved accuracy using third order polynomial
with the best 33 well-distributed GCPs was 0.95 m at the
checkpoints [26]. This image is used to avoid point elevations that
are on vegetation or buildings (DSM elevation points) during the
selection process.
4.2. GPS-leveling observations
Najran city has main control points distributed throughout the
city which is used in GIS projects by the Najran Municipality. With
Topcon GPS receivers and Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) technique,
the coordinates of GCPs are measured with an accuracy better than
a 0.10 m [27]. Before using these GCPs in our work, the horizontal
and vertical accuracy, for only two points were calculated.
1812 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817

this case, the geoid elevation is subtracted from any given GPS
row data. Reference data for the study site were transformed into
the same projection system Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
zone 38 north. WGS 1984 was selected as both datum and spher-
oid. ArcGIS 10.1 was used for data transformation and preparation.
The resolution of the original ASTER DEM is 30 m, and available
SRTM data for study area has also 30 m spatial resolution. The ref-
erence elevations values were compared with ASTER and SRTM
DEM data which cover the study area (pixel values corresponding
to GCPs) using (Extract Values to Point) tool under GIS Environ-
ment. Fig. 9 shows the methodological approach for estimation
of the absolute accuracy of the SRTM and ASTER DEMs data using
spot heights of a topographic map and GPS measurements.
Fig. 7. Orthometric, ellipsoidal and geoid heights.
5.2. Comparison of DEMs

TOPSURV7 program is used to configure receivers during the field In the mapping application, vertical accuracy is computed by
work (base and rover stations) and to collect points coordinate vertical Root-Mean-Square-Error (RMSE). This mathematical rela-
[28]. To get the orthometric height of the used benchmark, the offi- tion has been widely adopted since the late 1970s. It measures
cial Earth Gravitational Model EGM2008 has been used. The refer- the difference between the values of the DEM elevations and the
ence to EGM2008 and GPS observations is a WGS84 ellipsoid. values of referenced GPS elevations [34]. This individual point dif-
EGM2008 has been publicly released by the National Geospatial- ferences are also called residuals, and the RMSE serves to aggregate
Intelligence Agency (NGA) EGM Development Team [29]. This them into a single measure of predictive power.
gravitational model is complete to spherical harmonic degree vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
and order 2159 and contains additional coefficients extending to u n
u1 X
degree 2190 and order 2159. The geoid can be determined on glo- RMSE ¼ t e2 ð1Þ
n i¼1 v i
bal, regional, or local scales are utilizing a combination of gravity,
satellites, astronomical, altimetry, or GPS/leveling datasets [30].
Fig. 7 shows the relation between orthometric and ellipsoidal ev i ¼ v ri  emi ð2Þ
heights.
The International Center for Global Earth Models (IGCEM) has where;
compared all available GGM with GPS/leveling networks in USA, RMSE = root mean square error,
Europe, Canada, and Australia. Table 2 shows the results of such v ri = reference elevation at the point i,
evaluations for the selected seven gravity global model (GGM) uti- v mi = DEM elevation at the point i,
lized in the study. The last column of this table has been computed, n = the number of ground check points.
by the authors, as a weighted mean of the other four columns
(where the weights equal the number of checkpoints), that can The following relationship was used to transform elevation
be considered as an overall precision indicator for the GGM on a from ellipsoidal height to orthometric elevation:
global basis. From this table, it can be noticed that the EGM2008 H ¼hN ð3Þ
is considered the most precise GGM available so far.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), geoid modeling has been where;
investigated extensively in the last two decades (e.g. [32]). Cur- H = orthometric height,
rently, the development of a national geoid model is undergoing h = WGS84 ellipsoid height,
[33]. Fig. 8 shows reference points from GPS observations. N = EGM96 geoid undulation.

The DEM geoidal height information was computed using the

5. Methodology UNAVCO calculator after adding the GPS latitude and longitude
[35]. A geoid height calculator is an online tool that calculates
5.1. Data preparation the geoid height correction at a specified location on Earth using
EGM96 or EGM2008 gravity models.
Z-elevation data values that collected from GPS and spot height
of a topographic map are compared with SRTM and ASTER DEMs. 6. Results and discussion
Both data should be transformed to the same vertical datum. In
Before using Najran ground control points, established by
Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants (http://www.zfp.com/) in
Table 2
Root mean square error (RMSE) of undulation differences of GGM over global GPS/ 2007, for collecting reference elevations by using real-time kine-
leveling points (in meters) [31]. matic GPS measuring method, their accuracy must be checked.
Only two points, point 1016 and 1042, are chosen for this purpose,
Model USA 6169 Canada 1930 Europe Australia 201
points points 1235 points points and by static observation method, two Topcon receivers are used to
collected data for more than 45 min, because the distance between
DGM-1S 0.441 0.353 0.43 0.366
GOCO-03S 0.428 0.34 0.418 0.355
two points is 3.5 km. Topcon Tools software is used to run post-
EIGEN-6C 0.247 0.136 0.214 0.219 processing solution; Fig. 10 shows post processing for a Static
GIF48 0.319 0.23 0.275 0.236 GPS Occupation at used two points. Point 1016 is considered as a
EIGEN-6S 0.446 0.373 0.449 0.397 fixed coordinate and coordinate for point 1042 calculated and
GGM-03C 0.347 0.279 0.334 0.259
compared with its old coordinates. The differences between old
EGM 2008 0.248 0.126 0.208 0.217
and new calculated coordinates for point 1042 are 3, 1 and
 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817 1813

Fig. 8. Reference elevations from topographic map and GPS.

Fig. 9. Flowchart for used methodology.

1.4 cm at east, north and ellipsoidal height respectively as shown
in Table 3. The statistical analysis for the entire process of the
height validation for the study area is summarized in Tables 4
and 5. Negative values mean that the height level of the reference
data is lower than the examined data. Any datasets like DEM eleva-
tions contain three different types of errors: blunders or outliers,
systematic and random. Careless observations or misreading cause
this error type. Systematic errors are induced by procedures or sys-
tems and follow some fixed rule or pattern. There are many meth-
ods o detect outlier from any single variable. The simple classical
approach to screen outliers is to use the standard deviation
method; (x   2r) in the case of data follow a normal distribution.
Where x  is the sample mean and r is the sample standard
deviation.
1814 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817

Fig. 10. Post-processing solution for two control point by using Topcon Tools software.

[36,37]. After removing the outliers, the statistical computation

Table 3
Results of accuracy assessment for only two control point inside the study area. for the absolute vertical accuracy of SRTM and ASTER elevations
data gave the values of ±5.94 m and ±5.07 m, respectively (as
Point name East (m) North (m) Height (m)
shown in Tables 4 and 5). By using the spot heights of a topo-
1016 (fixed) 425150.349 1940832.126 1246.751 graphic map as reference elevations, the statistic indicated that
1042 (old) 421598.961 1940011.276 1251.411
the vertical accuracy of SRTM and ASTER elevations data gave
1042 (new) 421598.993 1940011.287 1251.397
Difference 0.032 0.011 0.014 the values of ±6.87 m and ±7.97 m, respectively.
For the study area, the 30 m SRTM elevation data featured a
much greater absolute vertical accuracy than the absolute vertical
accuracy value of ±16 m published in the SRTM data specification.
Project specifications often require that acceptable errors be Fig. 11a and b shows the graphic plots of the GPS elevations against
within specified limits, such as the 90% and 95% errors. The 95% the SRTM and ASTER DEMs. The results indicate that the two data-
error (2r) is most often specified. Another method to screen data sets showed strong positive correlations with the GPS elevations.
outliers is the Z-Score, using the mean and standard deviation. The relative frequency distribution of the height differences

The value of Z-Score can be calculated from this formula z ¼ xirx. between reference data and examined DEMs is provided in
The basic idea of this rule is that if data follows a normal distribu- Fig. 12a–d. The histograms of elevation differences present a
tion, and the data which has Z-scores that exceed 2 in absolute slightly negative skew for both examined data which indicates that
value are considered as outliers. Both previous methods to detect the SRTM and ASTER models are underestimates the spatial distri-
outliers obviously can be applied only when there is a priori bution of terrain elevation. Therefore, a clear negative bias for
knowledge about the precision of the observations. If, however, ASTER and SRTM on GPS elevations.
r is not adequately known or one does not want to depend on In the present research, the vegetation, tree, and buildings
prior estimates, modified Thompson Tau is another method for excluded from our study area. The GPS reference elevation data
outliers detecting. For further outlier detection technics see is more accurate than that obtained from topographic maps as

Table 4
Elevation differences between GPS and both used DEMs.

Statistics Before removing outliers (m) After removing outliers (m)

Count Min Max Mean RMSE Count Min Max Mean RMSE
GPS - ASTER 50 9.41 38.95 0.99 ±7.45 49 9.41 15.86 0.22 ±5.07
GPS - SRTM 50 12.22 32.95 0.99 ±7.92 48 12.22 15.55 2.11 ±5.94

Table 5
Elevation differences between the topographic map and both used DEMs.

Statistics Before removing outliers (m) After removing outliers (m)

Count Min Max Mean RMSE Count Min Max Mean RMSE
Map - ASTER 97 12.23 51.57 3.21 ±12.71 86 12.23 21.17 0.09 ±7.97
Map - SRTM 97 11.53 31.67 0.23 ±8.95 90 11.53 16.27 1.95 ±6.87
 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817 1815

(a) SRTM and GPS data (b) ASTER and GPS data

(c) SRTM and topographic map (d) ASTER and topographic map
Fig. 11. Correlation between used DEMs and GPS data.

(a) GPS-SRTM (b) GPS-ASTER

(c) Topographic map - ASTER (d) Topographic map - SRTM

Fig. 12. Histogram of elevation differences after deleting outliers (GPS-ASTER).
1816 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817
the most researchers indicated. Our investigations indicated that
ASTER DEM represents more accurate elevation values then that
from SRTM DEM data based on GPS elevations, as similar investiga-
tions in a study by [38]. However, according to [39,40] the accuracy
of SRTM is better than that from ASTER. The reasons for that may
be the accuracy of both ASTER and SRTM DEM depends on the
region that you are interested and its terrain type. Current research
is the first study to investigate the accuracy of freely distributed
DEMs ASTER and SRTM for Najran district, KSA.
7. Conclusions
In this study, two free global DEMs; SRTM and ASTER were
investigated for two reference elevation data. After the removal
of blunders and systematic errors, the remaining error distribution
is caused by random errors. After excluding the outliers and using
GPS elevations as reference data, the statistical computation for the
absolute vertical accuracy of SRTM and ASTER elevations data for
the study site gave the values of ±5.94 m and ±5.07 m, respectively.
By using the spot heights of a topographic map with scale 1:10,000
elevations as a reference elevation, the statistic indicated that the
vertical accuracy of SRTM and ASTER elevations data is ±6.87 m
and ±7.97 m, respectively. The 30 m SRTM elevation data featured
a much greater absolute vertical accuracy than the value of ±16 m
which published in the SRTM data specification. Analyses pre-
sented in this paper indicate that the absolute vertical accuracy
of SRTM ver3 data for our datasets proven to be two to three times
higher than the value of ±16 m presented in the original SRTM
requirement specification by using GPS elevation as a reference.
The vertical accuracy obtained from both used DEMs has indicated
that they can be used to develop a topographic map with contour
interval not less than the 16 m. Since vertical accuracy standard
requires that the elevation of 90% of all points tested must be cor-
rect within half of the contour interval as stated in scientific
findings.
Acknowledgments
This research is supported by the Deanship of Scientific
Research, Najran University project (NU/ESCI/15/047). The author
wants to thank for the financial support.
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 I. Elkhrachy / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 9 (2018) 1807–1817 1817

[40] Gesch D, Oimoen M, Evans G. Accuracy assessment of the U.S. Geological Ismail Elkhrachy born in 1968, Egypt, holds a Ph.D. in
survey national elevation dataset, and comparison with other large-area Surveying Engineering in 2008 (Institute of Geodesy and
elevation datasets-SRTM and ASTER. Tech Rep, U.S. Geological Survey Photogrammetry, Technical University Braunschweig,
Open-File Report 2014–1008, 10 p., visited on 23 Aug. 2016; 2014. URL Germany). His M.Sc. in Surveying Engineering in1999
http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141008. from (Al Azhar University, faculty of engineering, civil
engineering department, Cairo, Egypt). B.Sc. in Civil
Websites Engineering in 1992 (Al Azhar University, faculty of
engineering, civil engineering department, Cairo, Egypt).
He has many years of practical and academic experience
1. http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
2. http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org in the field of surveying engineering, Terrestrial Laser
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_elevation_model scanner, remote sensing. Several published papers.
Currently, working as assistance professor, Najran
University, College of Engineering, civil engineering department, Kingdome of Saudi
Arabia.