[Freegis-list] typical elevation data format

[Brian Wilson]

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005, Reed Hedges wrote:
>
> 1. NOAA "GLOBE" and USGS "GTOPO" files contain binary signed 16 bit 
> sequences, with new rows starting after X values (but no row seperator).

What scale map are you talking about and what area?
Globe and Gtopo are both small scale world-wide datasets so if you
want to cruise around a 3d image of your own vicinity
you will be disappointed at the resolution. If you want to
fly over the Himalayas at high altitude you might be okay.

If you are in the United States you can get 10m and 30m datasets
from gisdatadepot.com or seamless.usgs.gov. Your local county or
municipal government might be willing to share 1m data if they have it.

As far as getting the data 
into a format you can use... see GRASS.

Brian