[R-sig-Geo] DEM data in R?

[Michael Sumner]

Hello, 

With rgdal you can access a lot of DEM file formats. 

I don't know of any data in available packages, but the volcano dataset is a
very simple one. See the help page for persp() and volcano. 

I routinely use the ETOPO2 dataset, but I gather you will want far more
detailed local data than that.  

In general I would keep the size of a package down, but if you got a
compelling reason to put it in the package then it's just up to people to
download it.  If there are links to the existing data you want to use, it's
probably better to provide functions that read from those files. So the
package is then not bound to an optional dataset. 

There is an enormous range of ways in which topographic data is stored, so
feel free to ask  - and check out the GDAL/OGR family www.gdal.org and its R
workhorse rgdal. There are some gridded datasets in rgdal but I think (?)
they are all images. 

Finally, if you happened to be interested in global bathymetry, then check
out this reference:

@article{marks2006epa,
  title={{An Evaluation of Publicly Available Global Bathymetry Grids}},
  author={Marks, K.M. and Smith, W.H.F.},
  journal={Marine Geophysical Researches},
  volume={27},
  number={1},
  pages={19--34},
  year={2006},
  publisher={Springer}
}


HTH

Cheers, Mike.

-----Original Message-----
From: r-sig-geo-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch
[mailto:r-sig-geo-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Felix Andrews
Sent: Thursday, 2 August 2007 12:04 PM
To: r-sig-geo at stat.math.ethz.ch
Subject: [R-sig-Geo] DEM data in R?

Hi geophiles,

Anyone know of DEM (elevation grid) data in an R package? I know there is
some bathymetry data in PBSmapping, but I am interested in the land surface.

Generally, how far is it sensible to go in packaging geographic data for R?
It seems inappropriate for a package to be larger than about 25MB (the size
of 'mapdata' package).

But if we are to go beyond coastlines, cities and a few rivers, I would like
to see topographic data available.

Felix

--
Felix Andrews / 安福立
PhD candidate
Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management Centre The Fenner School of
Environment and Society The Australian National University (Building 48A),
ACT 0200 Beijing Bag, Locked Bag 40, Kingston ACT 2604
http://www.neurofractal.org/felix/
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