SimpleDEMViewer
SimpleDEMViewerAS

About

SimpleDEMViewer browses DEM ( Digital Elevation Model ) data as a relief map. It displays colored map with shading. Since no data is included in this package, user should prepare DEM data separately.
  SimpleDEMViewer draws bird's-eye view, stereographs, panorama view, grayscale map, orthographic, Mercator and other projection maps.
  Mac App Store version SimpleDEMViewerAS is available. Some restrictions are added because of Mac App Store technical requirement.

DEMs supported

GTOPO30, HYDRO1K, SRTM, SRTM DTED, SRTM30plus, ETOPO1, ETOPO2, ETOPO5, GLOBE, GDEM, GeoTiff, netCDF, PDS DEM, some BIL forms, USGS Ascii, USGS SDTS, ArcInfo Ascii, DEMs from GSI of Japan.

Functions

• Displays color elevation map in a window with or without shading.
• Draws lakes. User can create lake data for various DEMs.
• Draws contour lines on the color elevation map.
• Makes Conical, Orthographic, Mercator, Azimuthal Equidistant and Azimuthal Equal-Area projection maps.
• Makes Bird's-eye view pictures, stereographic pictures, profile charts.
• Makes Panorama view. ( V4 )
• Colorizing visible region from some point. ( V4 )
• Measure mileage along any path. ( V4 )
• Creates memo to show mark and strings on the map.
• Memos can show pictures, movies or web pages.
• Creates routes and area data on the map.
• Saves pictures as files in any format that Image Kit supports, or as PDF.
• Show any place in Apple's "Maps" or "Google Map" pointed on the map window. ( V5 )
• Read simple Placemark of KML file as user memo data. ( V5 )
• Supports Lambert Conformal Conic projection map. ( V5 )
• DEM Inspector supports to amend each elevation value. ( V5 )
• Export new DEM data file of bil form. ( V5 )
• Supports adding and updating strings on picture windows. ( V5 )
• Supports 3D movie. You can flight or cruise in landscape. ( V5.5 )
• Supports shading by slope. (V5.8)
• Supports planet DEMs. (V6.1)
• Pictures can contain color table, they are main window image, projection maps and bird's eye view. (V6.2)
• Add letters of latitudes and longitudes into main window image picture, (6.2) and projection maps. (6.4)
•  Support drawing contour as lines, so that some draw software can treat contour as lines later. (6.4)
• Support SRVC Relief Map. (6.6)
• Supports world's local plane coordinate systems. (6.7)
• Exports / imports User Data to / from text files. (6.7)
• Save pictures as GeoTiff. (6.8)
• Index window supports UTM and other plane DEMs. (6.8)
• Projection map supports separate projection center from picture center. (6.9)
• Supports Apple Silicon ( M1 ) Mac natively. (7.0)
• Contour lines above sea level can be set individually. (7.0)
• Reposition main window map by double clicking on the index Map. (7.0)

Requirement

Version 7 : macOS 10.14 or newer
Version 6 and AS : macOS 10.11 or newer
Version 5 : OS X 10.8 or newer
Version 4 : Mac OS X 10.6 or newer

Screen shots

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Download

Program

SimpleDEMViewerAS 2.1.0
Click picture at right to download from Mac App Store.

Download SimpleDEMViewer 7.1.0 ( 10.8 MB )  June 18, 2021
  Download User manual V.7.1 ( 15.9 MB )

Download SimpleDEMViewer 6.9.3 ( 7.3 MB )  Mar. 27, 2021
  Download User manual V.6.9 ( 11.2 MB )

Download SimpleDEMViewer 5.8.10 ( 3.3 MB ) Mar. 22, 2017
  Download User manual V.5.8 ( 2.4 MB )

Download SimpleDEMViewer 4.4.9 ( 3.0 MB )
  Download User manual V4.4.4 ( 3.7 MB ) .

Download Data Utility 3.0.5 ( 234 kB )   (  Converts type 3 user data to text files and vice versa. )

Sample data

Download World Boundaries and Rivers : worldBoundary.zip ( 26 MB )
User route data derived from 'World Boundary Databank II'

Download Coastlines, Islands and Lakes : worldCoast.zip ( 21 MB )
User route data derived from 'World Boundary Databank II'

Download world sea names. Seas.sdmemo.zip 1.5 kB
   ( was included in SimpleDEMViewer 3.9.5 package )

Download Memo marks. MemoMarks.zip 44 kB
Sample memo marks for any version.

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Release notes

SImpleDEMViewerAS 2.1.0 ( June 18, 2021 )

Following items are different from SimpleDEMViewer 7.0.

• Does not support DEMs from GSI of Japan, those have file extension ‘LEM’.
• You should select directory instead of individual files for SDTS and JAXA ALOS DEMs.
• All tiff format files can be selected by Open panel even if those files are not DEM files. They will be checked after you close the panel. netCDF files those have file extension ‘GRD’ are the same. Also bil form files are checked later if HDR file is exists or not.
• Cannot read alias files even they point DEM files if you select directory. You should select individual files for aliases.
• User Memo Data cannot show pictures, if referencing pictures reside outside Memo Library.
• Terminate application if you close the main window.

Version 7.1.0 ( June 18, 2021 )

• Supports GeoTiff format for exporting DEM files.
• Index map displays international boundaries when zoomed over 8 times.
• Index map shows normalized map depends on center latitude when zoomed over 4 times.
• Corrects following issues.
• Target address is not set correctly for Visible Region dialog when it is activated by popup menu.
• Other minor issues.

Version 7.0.5 ( May 17, 2021 )

• Corrects following issue.
• Terminate abnormally when move mouse on Panorama View pictures with pressing control or option key. ( Ver. 7.0.4 only )

Version 7.0.4 ( May 16, 2021 )

• Improve all-over performance.
• Corrects minor issues.

Version 7.0.3 ( Apr. 19, 2021 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Center address of the projection map is not set to the clicked address on the Map View, when it is activated from popup menu.
• Terminate abnormally when saving picture as a file other than pdf in some conditions.
• Node comment of User Rout Data will be printed invalid position ocasionally.
• Other minor issues.

Version 7.0.2 ( Apr. 11, 2021 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Could not retrieve projection planes after activating SimpleDEMViewer, if user added projection planes previously.
• The number of multi threads is always 8 on any Macs.
• Memo Data will disappear temporarily after updating it.
• Other minor issues.

Version 7.0.1 ( Mar. 26, 2021 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Could not show Memo Data content if its content field points some file such as a picture.
• Could not show Memo Data in own window when its content fields points web site and without size=() entry.
• Cannot read Panorama information file ( jzpano ) created by Version 6.
• Other minor issues.

Version 7.0.0 ( Mar. 17, 2021 )

• Supports Apple Silicon ( M1 ) Mac natively.
• Adapted to Big Sur UIs.
• Combines Map Info Panel and Index Map with Main window.
• DEM read region on the index map is changed to individual DEM region from whole rectangular region.
• Double clicking on the index map reposition main window map there.
• Contour lines above sea level can be set individually as same as under sea for lower land.
• Can save settings of Contour lines with name, so that refer later.
• Supports easier color set editing with new dedicated dialog.
• Exported color set file format is changed. File extension is jzcolor. Can read jzcolr file, but older sdcolr file.
• Supports easier way to specify picture size of stereograph when direction does not toward N/S/W/E..

Version 6.9.3 ( Mar. 27, 2021 )

• Support new color set file ( jzcolor ) created by Version 7. Requires macOS 10.13 ( High Sierra ) or newer.
• Corrects following issues.
• Terminate abnormally after closing Panorama View information sheet of the Panorama View.
• Cannot read Panorama View information file ( jzpano ) created by Version 7. Requires macOS 10.13 ( High Sierra ) or newer.
• In the Stereograph dialog, direct entry of the direction number does not change the dial.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.9.2 ( Jan. 17, 2021 )

• Corrects following issues.
• In the User Data Edit All dialogs, Kind, Layer and Mark does not show mixed state incorrectly under some conditions.
• Area data will not drawn correctly in the saving map picture if scale or dpi is different from that of main window map.
• In the feature "Fill land of zero meters or less with a color just above zero meters.", zero meter area did not drawn with changed color.
• Top white space of the Bird's Eye View will be too high ( or short ) when scale is different from its of main window map.
• Terminate abnormally when creating big stereograph or anaglyph picture.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.9.1 ( Oct. 31, 2020 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Saving User Route or Area data always save all kind of Data, even one kind is specified.
• Saving user data dialog may terminate abnormally, when it is called more than once and all data of Memo, Route or Area are removed after first dialog.
• Scrolling panorama view shows invalid pictures when window height is less than picture height, when running on macOS 12 ( Sierra ) or newer.

Version 6.9.0 ( Oct. 10, 2020 )

• Projection map supports separate projection center from picture center.
• DEM exporting supports DEMs other than geo-referenced also.
• DEM Inspector supports setting all 7 by 7 cells to the same value.
• DEM Inspector supports copy all 7 by 7 cell values.
• Rectangle region is redrawn continuously during frame address being changed in the dialog.
• Corrects following issues.
• Rectangle region disappear when measuring or making route.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.8.0 ( Jul. 30, 2020 )

• Index Window supports UTM and other plane DEMs.
• Index Window shows area that DEMs are read.
• Pictures can be saved as GeoTiff format. ( macOS 10.14 or newer ) It is supported when DEMs are geo-reference or UTM.
• Texture maps they have UTM or other plane addresses are drawn more accurately.
• Corrects following issues.
• Positioning of texture map on the map window could not done if DEMs are base on UTM or other planes.
• Last few lines of Grayscale maps may not be drawn.
• Texture map setting operation can not do correctly if texture map has named planeID addressing.
• Some GeoTiff DEMs and texture maps are recognized as UTM incorrectly.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.7.1 ( Apr. 15, 2020 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Terminate abnormally when reading BIL form DEM files those HDR files include XYPLANE entry and has no operand.
• Cannot recognize PLANE ID of the XYPLANE entry in the HDR file correctly, if it is enclosed by double quotation marks.

Version 6.7.0 ( Apr. 2, 2020 )

• Supports world's local plane coordinate systems.
  Those systems should stand on WGS84 ( or similar reference system ).
  Supported by BIL and ArcAscii DEMs.
• Supports exporting / importing User Data to / from text files.
• Extends drawing area for UTM and other plane coordinate system far from center meridian to about 667 km ( 6 degrees on the Equator ).
• ⌘A short cut can be used on Remove Data dialog.
• Corrects following issues.
• Terminate abnormally when reading certain GeoTiff DEM files.
• Calculation accuracy has problem for UTM system.
• Parallels and Meridians are not drawn on Conic projection and Lambert Conformal Conic projection maps, when using UTM DEMs.
• Sometimes set invalid coordinate system after reading Named Working Set including DEMs other than geo referenced.
• Meridians and Parallels are drawn above User Area Data on projection maps.
• XDIM entry has minus value in the HDR file associated with exported DEM file.
• Horizontal scale panel shows the scale at 15 dots south of scale panel bottom edge.
• Other minor issues

Version 6.6.3 ( Jan. 21, 2020 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Can not change font of latitude and longitude on the dialog of SRVC Relief Map.
• May terminate abnormally when to change font on a Profile View and Panorama View.
• Other minor issues

Version 6.6.2 ( Dec. 9, 2019 )

• Change specifications of SRVC Relief Map.
• Corrects following issues.
• Vertical scrolling and dragging in Panorama View picture are invalid.
• Vertical dragging of vertical string on Panorama view is invalid when its characters are Japanese, Chinese or Hangul.

Version 6.6.1 ( Nov. 15, 2019 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Under macOS 10.15 Catalina, could not show Geo-Profile views.
• Could not set Panorama View's eye point elevation in GPS info correctly, if eye point elevation is under the sea level.

Version 6.6.0 ( Nov. 4, 2019 )

• Supports SRVC Relief map.
• Supports big GeoTiff DEM files, larger than 4 GB.
• Improve performance of 3D movie. Supports more data in size.
• Improve performance of Panorama View's auto-scrolling.
• Supports elevation value in the description field in some of KML / KMZ data file, which has no elevation in point field.
• Improve seashore drawing with some DEM files those have void value for sea area.
• Corrects following issues.
• Under macOS 10.15.1 Catalina, cannot save Panorama view picture as jpeg, tiff or png format files.
• Read GeoTiff DEM file twice.
• When exporting DEM file as a bil form data, NODATA entry is omitted.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.5.1 ( Apr. 9, 2019 )

• String search functions ignore case and diacritic marks, in Find function, Edit User Data, Panorama View dialog, Visible Region dialog and Geo-profile dialog.
• Supports new KML/KMZ format to get data names from some kind of data such as Global Administrative Areas (GADM).
• Corrects following issues.
• User Memo Data content window shows elevation value in integer always.
• In Panorama View dialog, if found name has no elevation value, -20000 m is set.
• Could not show User Area Data correctly, if it extends over 180 degree meridian, or one of edge is longer than 150 km.
• Could not show User Area Data correctly, if it extends Both side of map window when window covers over 180 degrees width.
• Projection maps could not show User Area Data correctly in certain situations.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.5.0 ( Feb. 02, 2019 )

• Supports filling a land of zero meters or less with a color just above zero meters. It is effective when using a color set which has colors for sea bed, such as 'etopo' color set. Refer the manual for target area.
• [White Antarctica] is changed to [White Antarctica and Greenland].
• Supports menu command to set base latitude to center latitude of the current window. .
• Corrects following issues.
• In the "Jump to" functions, if you create new names and delete all names and quit program, you could not use "Jump to" function afterwards.
• If you drag an edge of selected rectangle over opposite edge, the rectangle region does not work correctly.
• If selected rectangle region includes meridian of 180 degree, the dialog to change rectangle region does not work correctly.
• Show always north and east for south latitude and west longitude in some dialogs, such as information panel of Mercator projection map, edit table of lake data, string attribute information in Panorama views, Edit User Data dialog, create and update dialog of User Area Data. No issues in map drawing.
• Lines of User Route data are drawn incorrectly on projection maps ( Mercator, Conical, Lambert Conformal Conic ) under certain conditions.
• Orthographic projection map may not draw latitude value strings under certain conditions.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.4.4 ( Sep. 04, 2018 )

• Support dark mode of macOS Mojave ( 10.14 ).
• Corrects following issues.
• Can't read DEM and user data files when drag & drop them on the main window.
• Program may terminate abnormally when changing custom memo mark on the User Memo create / update dialog.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.4.3 ( Jul. 17, 2018 )

• Support KML data that have polygon with holes.
• Fix issues and improve usability in full screen mode.
• Corrects following issues.
• Great circle never taken to draw User Area data on main window.
• Name position of User Area data will not move to center after editing edge nodes position.
• Can not invoke Visible Region function under any system environment except Japanese.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.4.2 ( Jun. 1, 2018 )

• Corrects following issues.
• When reading GeoTiff picture files as texture maps, could not retrieve correct information, and program may terminate abnormally.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.4.1 ( May 21, 2018 )

• Improve line mode contour drawing.
• Corrects following issues.
• Elevations in color table ignore decimal point, those tables added to saved main window picture, Bird's eye view, Stereograph and projection maps.
• In projection maps, appearance of sea shore differ from one on main window.

Version 6.4.0 ( May 13, 2018 )

• Draw contour as lines, so that some draw soft such as Illustrator can treat contour as lines.
• Add letters of latitudes and longitudes into projection maps.
• Corrects following issues.
• Contour does not appear on projection maps when using UTM DEMs.
• Latitude and longitude lines are broken in some situation on Equidistant and Equi-area projection maps.
• When zooming screen by system function, dragging string in the map does not work correctly.
• Contour on projection maps has invalid color when loading named working set which created by ver. 6.1.0 or before and contour dialog had never shown.
• Contour on the sea shore ( 0 meter ) is not drawn.
• Map window picture is copied invalidly when saving map picture even if saving scale is differ from the scale of the map window.
• Sea area is included when searching highest or lowest elevation point.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.3.1 ( Apr 10, 2018 )

• Corrects following issue.
• Drag-scrolling of main window map breaks map image.
• GPS information ( i.e. center address ) is not written into projection map image file.
• Latitude and longitude lines are broken in Conical projection map.

Version 6.3.0 ( Feb. 16, 2018 )

• Supports PDS DEMs from NASA, its file extension is 'IMG'.
• Supports projection maps when using UTM DEMs.
• Supports more flexible formats to paste address strings to address controls.
• Corrects following issues.
• Projection maps always uses most rough DEMs, when several kinds of DEMs are read and they are overlapped.
• UTM projection map fails to draw latitude and longitude lines in some situation.
• Conical projection map draw invalid user rout data in some situation.
• The option "Treat sea as no data region" is not applied to DEMs that is applied the option "Treat 0 m as sea if DEM does not specify sea level".
• "Find highest or lowest elevation" function moves the map even when window range is specified, if found point is near the frame.
• When starting to create Panorama view using UTM DEMs, to stop directing on the map window near the eye point does not fix direction to north.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.2.0 ( Nov. 22, 2017 )

• Pictures can contain color table, they are main window image, projection maps and bird's eye view.
• Add letters of latitudes and longitudes into main window image picture.
• Supports copying four corner addresses of pictures when opening dialog of Saving-map-picture and Grayscale-map.
• Can select copying address format, D.M.S. or degrees. Select one in Preferences panel.
• Add lower limit elevation to mist effect of Panorama View.
• Support option key like as control key to show pale info in Panorama View.
• Corrects following issues.
• Projection maps always paint sea with color specified as no data region.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.1.0 ( Oct. 2, 2017 )

• Supports planet DEMs.
  Specify radius of the planet in HDR file for bil form DEMs.
• Can create world file for saving pictures when using UTM or XYPLANE DEMs.
• Change the way of handling values of world file. Even if program founds first and fourth lines are specified in seconds, address lines ( fifth and sixth ) are treated as specified in degrees..
• Corrects following issues.
• Couldn't do texture map positioning on the map window, when coordinate systems differ between DEMs and texture maps.
• Couldn't draw correctly no address DEMs.
• May terminate abnormally when using texture maps those are not bounded by Meridians and Parallels.
• Under macOS High Sierra (10.13), program may freeze when drawing Panorama view with specifying user memo and route data.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.0.7 ( Aug. 27, 2017 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Couldn't read JAXA ALOS DEMs ver 1.1 published March 2017.
• Couldn't draw "Coloring by slope" correctly, when 180 degree meridian is in the map window.
• World file attached to saving picture shows addresses slips to north a half pixel.
• In a HDR file of bill form DEMs and no UTMZONE nor XYPLANE is specified, XDIM and YDIM values are treated in degrees always. If those values are greater than 0.1 they should be in seconds as described in the manual.
• Some GeoTiff DEMs are ignored incorrectly.
• Option-close picture windows also close Index map and Map Info Panel unintentionally.
• Panorama View draws invalid wall when elevation value is below the sea level.
• Geo-Profile view does not draw when route length is too short.
• When UTM DEMs are used and no other larger mesh DEMs, invalid line appear at DEM file edges in map window, and Panorama view draws invalidly.
• Panorama view draws invalidly when DEM files mesh pitch is less than 2 meters.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.0.6 ( May 2, 2017 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Couldn't find highest or lowest point correctly, when base DEM is UTM and geo-referenced DEM co-exists.
• Strings are not written correctly after string size is changed by Change-All under Edit-User-Data dialog.
• Custom Scale menu is enabled always.
• Window Size dialog is always enabled. (changed to sheet of main window ).
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.0.5 ( Apr. 12, 2017 )

• Corrects following issues.
• During reading named working set when some DEM files are read previously, program may terminate abnormally if you move mouse pointer in the main window.
• Program terminates abnormally when you create new area data. ( Ver. 6.0.2 and later )
• Titles of user route data are drawn invalid place in the saved picture of the main window.
• String's background color extended to right end of the saved picture of the main window, if the string has plural lines and has translucent or opaque background color..
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.0.4 ( Mar. 19, 2017 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Newly created lake data is not saved to library and no warning is shown, when you have no right to write to the library.
• When saving picture or some other data to any folder that you have no right to write to the folder, program may terminate abnormally or just ignore the saving sometimes.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.0.3 ( Mar. 9, 2017 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Could not enter minus value to amend elevation.
• In the Panorama dialog, could not reselect address field after leaving from it.
• Could not show place information of a Panorama view which is 360 degrees around view, if its joint part ( to make loop ) exists in window and mouse pointer is in the right side of the joint.
• Program terminates abnormally when following conditions occur.
  ·Show setting info panel of a Panorama view.
  ·Show Panorama View dialog from the panel.
  ·Create new panorama view or cancel it.
  ·Show info panel of the original window again and close it.
• Program terminates abnormally when starting Panorama view directing, after clear Panorama view setting from Tool menu.
• In the Contour dialog, could not change depth line settings, after program restarts, if depth line settings are changed previous session. Reset to defaults resolved this issue.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.0.2 ( Feb. 26, 2017 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Export DEM function write hdr file with invalid file name.
• In the texture map dialog, North-East and South-West corner address are editable even when "Parallel to Geo / UTM / XY coordinate axes." is checked.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.0.1 ( Feb. 2, 2017 )

• Corrects following issues.
• Can't draw azimuth indexes in panorama view.
• Drawing Sun(s) in panorama view does not work when time format is not 24 hour system in System Preferences.
• Other minor issues.

Version 6.0.0 ( Jan. 31, 2017 )

• Rearrange menu structure.
  - Change "Map Handling" to "View".
  - Move scale menus to sub-menu.
  - Move index window menu and scale panel menu to "View" menu.
• Remove information bar at top of the main window, and move those information to information panel. Information panel shows followings.
  - DEM type.
  - UTM zone number or xy-plane number of Japan.
  - Current scale.
  - Base latitude.
  - Intervals of parallels and meridians.
  - Current color set.
• Remove scroll bars from main windows and panorama vies.
• Supports one dot scroll of main window.
• Show address and elevation value near mouse cursor when moving mouse cursor in the main window with pressing option key.
• Supports an option to treat elevation value of 0 meter as sea when DEM file has no sea information.
• Reconfigure "Export color sets" dialog as "Manage color sets" to support renaming, removing, sorting for menu.
• Support 1 second for minimum intervals of parallels and meridians, if setting is automatic.
• Supports auto-scrolling of panorama view.
• Supports selecting shading type for Bird's eye view and stereograph.
• Change default library for Memo Data to none.
• Corrects following issues.
• Removed user data may appear at next activation time, when all the user data are read at activation time by automatic reading, and remove part of user data by kind in the Remove data dialog, and no other update nor addition occur.
• Too large window may be created when scale is changed in Geo-profile.
• Click to decide direction of panorama view is ignored if the main window is not the most front window.
• May freeze all the operation of the program when exiting string dialog of panorama view, if line width field or font size field is blank.
• Projection map may not draw parallels and meridians if those intervals are different.
• May draw sea, lakes and sky with incorrect colors when specifying those colors using other than RGB mode in color picker dialog.
• When updating user route and selected node is out of the main window, user route is redrawn but background map remain previous place.

Older release notes

Known issues

• 2021/04/19 SimpleDEMViewerAS 2.0.0 : Cannot restore DEM data during auto-restore at start-up, or restoring named working set under macOS 10.14 ( Mojave ).
• 2021/04/20 SimpleDEMViewerAS 2.0.1 : If some error meesages appear about texture map files during quitting, read those texture maps after restart. If Named Working Set contains texture maps, save it again.

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