Creating a DTM from a Contour Map Example
Updated May 15, 2025
This article applies to:
- Terrain 3D
- Terrain Forestry
- RoadEng Civil
- RoadEng Forestry
Transferring interpolated elevation data is not recommended because it reduces the accuracy of the data. This includes rasterized data and contour lines. If the raw data (*.LAS,*.LAZ, ASCII etc.) or a TIN model surface (LandXML or DWG-3D faces) is not available it may be necessary to create a TIN surface from contours.
To improve the accuracy, it is possible to generate contours and compare them to the original. In most cases, areas where the generated contours differ from the input contours can be resolved by making the some or all of the input contours into breaklines.
Note that for large data sets creating breaklines can significantly slow the process. Also in some cases, additional breaklines will also be required.
The following example illustrates the problem:
Figure 1: Original Contours Figure 2: Generated Contours
Original input contours are shown above as dotted lines in the figure above. When a TIN model and contours are generated the result is shown in the figure below.
The generated contours do not correctly match those from the map. This is caused by flat triangles forming across the nose.
Figure 3: Flat Triangles
To correct the problem a breakline is created in the direction of the 'nose' as shown below. Creating this breakline is done after a terrain model has been created as follows.
1. With the Plan View window active select menu View | Active Window (Plan) Options. Make sure that Snap to Point is set.
When Snap to Point/Line is set and an elevation feature is created the elevation will ‘picked up’ when a point is snapped.
2. Slelect menu Edit | New Feature. Check Displayed, Connected, Elevations, Modeled, and Breakline and press the Mouse button.
Figure 4: Edit | New Feature Dialog
3. Using the mouse, create the breakline with points located at the original contours as shown in the figure below.
4. When the terrain model is regenerated the contours should closely match the original contours.
Figure 5: Breakline Added Figure 6: Contours Generated a with the Breakline Feature