Depending on the quality of your digital elevation model (DEM) and the level of detail required, editing a DEM can be a laborious process. The following tips and shortcuts may help to increase your productivity.
Tips
- To fully use all the functionality available in the DEM Editing window and to produce the best possible DEM, your DEM file should contain additional information. In particular, if the DEM file was extracted from epipolar images, you can make use of that imagery to help with your editing. DEM files created using PCI technology contain extra information that facilitates DEM editing, including a cutline vector segment and file-level metadata. When you initiate DEM editing, additional layers available in the DEM file are loaded automatically. If the DEM was not extracted using PCI technology, you can still augment it if you have raw images that cover the DEM. For more information, see Managing images to orthorectify.
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Consider using Auto Re-enhance for the image layer so that, as you pan across the data, the view is refreshed automatically in the viewer to display good contrast. You can only auto re-enhance when reference imagery is displayed automatically when the DEM Editing window opens.
To apply Auto Re-enhance, on the DEM Editing toolbar, click Enhancement, and then click Auto Re-enhance to display a check mark beside the item.
Keyboard shortcuts
- F12: Press to switch the visibility of the top-most raster map layer. For example, if your DEM layer is on top of an image, press F12 to switch between the DEM layer being on and off. This can be helpful while digitizing a mask.
- F11: Press to switch the visibility of the topmost vector layer. For example, when digitizing a polygon mask, it may be useful to turn off the polygon layer itself.
- F9: Press to recenter the display around the current location of the cursor. This can be useful when creating polygons. when you near the edge of the display area, press F9 to recenter the display.
Zooming and panning
- To zoom in on the image, click Zoom In, or rotate the mouse wheel up.
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To zoom out, click Zoom Out, or rotate the mouse wheel down.
The view centers and zooms incrementally.
- To pan the image, click Pan. To pan horizontally, hold down the Shift key, and then rotate the mouse wheel forward or backward, as necessary. To pan vertically, hold down the Alt key, and then rotate the mouse wheel forward or backward, as necessary.