How to download SRTM DEM Directly in QGIS
SRTM DEM is one of the most popular and most widely used Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data at the global level. The DEM itself actually is quite old because it is coming from SAR Survey using Space Shuttle in the year 2000. SRTM DEM generated from interferometric processing of two SAR antennas mounted on the space shuttle and using two bands configuration, one using X-band and the other is using C-band. X-band SAR of SRTM is considered experimental so it is doesn't have full coverage like its counterpart C-band SAR. Because it is coming from SAR interferometry, the resulted DEM is still considered as DSM (Digital Surface Model) and not be treated as DTM (Digital Terrain Model). Although conversion to DTM is somewhat possible (I also have made a tutorial about how to do it in another post), the result is can't be standardized due to its medium resolution.
But because there is no on-par DEM data on a global scale at medium resolution like SRTM DEM, the data is still found popular usage until today. Due to its popularity, many geoportal and websites have provided data download for SRTM data, either in its native format HGT or more common format like GeoTiff and ASCII Grid.
But data downloading sometimes is a tedious task, we need another method of data access that enabling us to download and view the downloaded data straightforwardly from the inside of GIS Software. QGIS as one of the most popular open-source and free-to-use GIS software has been incorporated this workflow using a plugin. Now data access to SRTM DEM is easier than ever. You can directly download and load the data in QGIS Canvas. This is sure will save your time a lot. You don't have to deal with Raster subsetting, raster mosaicking, and any other processing steps. Just load QGIS with a strong internet connection, and you are good to go. Video tutorial below shows you how to do it.
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