How to use elevation source from GeoServer?

[FatmaAkdemir]

We have several dt2 files (DTED) as elevation source. We have published them in a GeoServer. Can we access these elevation data by WMS? Is there any example that shows us the proper usage of accessing the elevation data from GeoServer?

[LucasDanzinger]

The elevation source can either be Esri Elevation sources (such as Elevation Services - e.g. https://elevation3d.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/WorldElevation3D/Terrain3D/ImageServer, or LERC encoded TPK files) or raw raster files. Here is the base class doc https://developers.arcgis.com/qt/cpp/api-reference/esri-arcgisruntime-elevationsource.html. We don't have the ability to use WMS services from GeoServer with elevation sources. If you have access to the underlying dt2 files locally, you could RasterElevationSource - https://developers.arcgis.com/qt/cpp/api-reference/esri-arcgisruntime-rasterelevationsource.html 

[FatmaAkdemir]

Hi @LucasDanzinger , Thank you for the answer! We are currently using RasterElevationSource by giving a list of filenames. Our main concern is that the DTED files can be seen by the user since they reside in the user's computer. We don't want them to be open to user so we thought that it could be a good idea to move them to a remote server.

1) What would be the correct method to access dt2 files from a remote server?

2) When we use RasterElevationSource, are dt2 files loaded once when creating the RasterElevationSource or are they being loaded as user zooms in a specific area? We might consider to delete dt2 files after we create RasterElevationSource if they won't be needed afterwards.

[LucasDanzinger · Accepted solution]

1) You could publish your raster data as an Image Service, and use that for your elevation source - https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/2.8/help/sharing/overview/publish-an-image-service.htm

2)  ElevationSource is Loadable, so when it is added to the Scene, it is loaded, and all of its dependencies (all the raster files) are loaded at that time as well. I think you will likely run into issues if you have one ElevationSource with multiple dted files that you then start deleting from disk periodically. Perhaps you could instead create several ElevationSource objects and create/delete the objects and associated files depending on the user's current viewpoint? You can continue to set a new base surface on the Scene