Abstract

With the invention of Geospatial InformationSystems (GIS) and Natural hazard computer models, the role ofdigital elevation model (DEM) has become very important andeffective tools in Geohazard modeling. Flood inundationmapping, landslide susceptibility mapping and wind velocitymapping are examples that effectively employ the DEM and itsderivatives as one of the important modeling inputs. On theother hand, satellite based DEMs have been growing rapidly inrecent years. There are several sources of DEMs availableranging from very coarse to high resolution which providesgeospatial data in different scales. This paper describe thespecification and applications of public domain satellite-basedDEMs including SRTM and ASTER-GDEM which, are globallyfree. From several applications, the scope is limited to theapplication of public domain satellite DEMs in flood potentialmapping which is considered a widespread Geohazard. Fromthe result, it was found that several advantages were recognizedfor public domain satellite–based DEMs including ease ofaccessibility, elimination of institutional bureaucracy, unlimitedcoverage, adequate spatial resolution, and more importantly,they are available free of charge.