Generate 16bit terrain map from real world elevation data

I’m looking for some tips, advice or even a tutorial on how to generate 16bit terrain height maps from real world elevation data. I’m able to generate 8bit height maps from tiff and jpg I found via google img search and converted to 8bit raw format in gimp. The 8bit versions cause noticeable stepping in the terrain due to the limited brightness levels it can represent.
I’m currently using VTBuilder to open and export data from elevation data I sourced here. The supported export formats are -

  • 3TX
  • ArcInfo ASCII Grid
  • BMP
  • ChunkLOD
  • GeoTIFF
  • MSI Planet
  • PNG(16bit greyscale)
  • RAW/INF(MS Flight Sim)
  • RAW(Scaled to 8bit for Unity)
  • STM
  • TIN
  • TerraGen
  • VRML
  • XYZ ASCII

The exportable tile size always seem to be 1201x1201, which means they need to be scaled to a unity terrain compatible resolution (513,1025,2049,etc)

The 16bit PNG seemed promising, so I’ve been attempting to resize and convert to raw using gimp and imagemagick, but all I’ve managed to get is messed up spiky terrain of various flavors. I also tried both raw types (which still need to be scaled) but no luck.

There are so many variables and opportunities to get it wrong (resolution, byte order etc.) I was hoping someone who has been down this road already might share some experience.

Thanks!

I use GDAL.

I use a c# script for reading GeoTiff format, which is the one used for MANY DEM product such ASTER2. Then convert directly to heigthMap then terrain.

Try “GIS Terrain loader” asset