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Tilesets
DSM surface model

DSM surface model

The DSM is the counterpart to the DTM: it shows the surface including buildings, trees and bridges. Encoding, tile size and zoom levels are identical; all clients and formulas of the DTM apply unchanged.

Use cases

Building and vegetation heightnDSM as DSM minus DTM in the client
Solar planningRoof and shading heights as a basis
Visibility and shadingSurface including buildings and forest
3D city and landscape viewsSurface as terrain in the browser
Elevation profilesProfile over the surface

Specifications

Tilesetrelief-dsm-terrainrgb
File
relief-dsm-terrainrgb-20250915-d19cb434.pmtiles
Reference date
2025-09-15
Format
webp, encoding mapbox, 512 px
Zoom levels
z5–z16
Bounds (WGS84)
9.5306 / 46.3697 / 17.1661 / 49.0235 (W/S/O/N)
Vertical resolution
0.1 m (Terrain-RGB)
License
CC BY 4.0

Live map

Click the map: elevation and tile RGB.

Clicking decodes the tile pixel (formula under Terrain-RGB).

Add to your map 

new maplibregl.Map({
  container: "map",
  style: {
    version: 8,
    sources: { dsm: { type: "raster-dem", url: "https://tiles.mapx.at/v1/tiles/dsm.json", tileSize: 512, encoding: "mapbox" } },
    terrain: { source: "dsm", exaggeration: 1.2 },
    layers: [{ id: "hill", type: "hillshade", source: "dsm" }]
  }
});

TileJSON provides zoom range, bounds and attribution. Send the token with every request: add the transformRequest from First map to the map options. With PMTiles directly use url: "pmtiles://https://tiles.mapx.at/relief-dsm-terrainrgb-20250915-d19cb434.pmtiles?access_token=YOUR_TOKEN" (protocol as in the PMTiles guide).

Elevation over HTTP: Elevation and profile with model=dsm.

Source and currency

The DSM is derived from the BEV ALS-DOM 1 m (airborne laser scanning, surface). The reference date is in the specifications and the file name; a file never changes, a new release is a new file.

  • Source: BEV ALS-DOM 1 m, reference date 15 Sep 2025.
  • Same encoding as the DTM: Mapbox Terrain-RGB with 0.1 m quantization, 512 px, lossless WebP.

Notes

  • Quantization 0.1 m. The finest level is z16 (about 0.8 m per pixel at 48° N); beyond that the client scales up.
  • Accuracy corresponds to the official BEV source.
  • Buildings and vegetation reflect the time of the survey flight, not the reference date.
  • Outside the data the value is a smooth continuation, not a measurement (as with the DTM).
  • Building and vegetation height (nDSM = DSM − DTM) can be computed in the client from both tile sets.

Attribution

Required under CC BY 4.0. MapLibre picks up the text automatically from TileJSON or PMTiles:

Relief: <a href="https://data.bev.gv.at/geonetwork/srv/ger/catalog.search#/metadata/cced2282-cfc5-42eb-9acb-b1c799522fcd">BEV – ALS-DOM 1 m</a> (Stichtag 15.09.2025), CC BY 4.0

More: License.

DTM terrain modelOrthophoto