Local GeoTIFFs & DEM Terrain

For offline dome shows, high-resolution landing site flyovers, or custom scientific rasters, OpenSpace loads local GeoTIFF files directly through GDAL without requiring an external web server.

Preprocessing Rasters with GDAL

Raw satellite GeoTIFFs often ship in incompatible map projections (such as Polar Stereographic or UTM) or lack internal overview pyramids, causing severe stuttering when zooming in. Preprocess local rasters with GDAL before loading them into OpenSpace:

1. Reproject to Equirectangular (EPSG:4326)2. Build Internal Overviews (gdaladdo)3. Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (All-in-One)

GlobeBrowsing expects geographic latitude/longitude (EPSG:4326 / WGS84) rasters:

gdalwarp -t_srs EPSG:4326 -r bilinear input_raw.tif output_wgs84.tif

Generates multi-resolution mipmap pyramids inside the GeoTIFF so OpenSpace doesn't read full-resolution pixels from orbit:

gdaladdo -r average output_wgs84.tif 2 4 8 16 32 64

Alternatively, convert directly to a tiled COG with built-in overviews in a single command:

gdal_translate input_wgs84.tif final_cog.tif -of COG -co COMPRESS=LZW -co OVERVIEW_RESAMPLING=AVERAGE

Loading Local Color & Elevation Layers

Use SingleImageProvider for standalone local GeoTIFFs, or TemporalTileProvider for time-series planetary datasets:

Local Imagery (ColorLayers)Local Terrain Elevation (HeightLayers)

local marsAsset = asset.require("scene/solarsystem/planets/mars/mars")

local JezeroHiRISE = {
    Identifier = "Jezero_HiRISE_Color",
    Name = "Jezero Crater HiRISE Mosaic",
    Type = "SingleImageProvider",
    FilePath = asset.localResource("jezero_hirise_wgs84.tif"),
    Enabled = true
}

asset.onInitialize(function()
    openspace.globebrowsing.addLayer("Mars", "ColorLayers", JezeroHiRISE)
end)

asset.onDeinitialize(function()
    openspace.globebrowsing.deleteLayer("Mars", "ColorLayers", "Jezero_HiRISE_Color")
end)

local marsAsset = asset.require("scene/solarsystem/planets/mars/mars")

local JezeroDEM = {
    Identifier = "Jezero_HiRISE_DEM",
    Name = "Jezero Crater Terrain DEM",
    Type = "SingleImageProvider",
    FilePath = asset.localResource("jezero_dem_wgs84.tif"),
    Enabled = true,
    TilePixelSize = 64
}

asset.onInitialize(function()
    openspace.globebrowsing.addLayer("Mars", "HeightLayers", JezeroDEM)
end)

asset.onDeinitialize(function()
    openspace.globebrowsing.deleteLayer("Mars", "HeightLayers", "Jezero_HiRISE_DEM")
end)

Screenshot Placeholder: dem-terrain-before-after.png

Crop: Capture a split or side-by-side low-altitude oblique view of a planetary crater/canyon in OpenSpace comparing the flat ellipsoid surface (HeightLayers disabled) against 3D terrain relief (HeightLayers enabled).
Callouts: (1) Smooth ellipsoid horizon without DEM, (2) Displaced 3D crater rim geometry with HeightLayers active, (3) HeightExaggeration slider in Renderable properties.

Troubleshooting Local Rasters

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Layer loads as solid white/black box	16-bit or 32-bit float elevation values loaded into `ColorLayers` instead of `HeightLayers`, or `NoData` pixels lack alpha transparency.	Move elevation rasters to `HeightLayers`, or run `gdalwarp -dstalpha` on color imagery so `NoData` borders become transparent.
Stuttering when zooming near surface	Missing internal overviews (`gdaladdo`) or uncompressed multi-GB TIFF.	Run `gdaladdo` or re-export as a tiled COG (`-of COG`).
Dataset appears stretched or shifted	Raster is in a projected CRS (e.g., UTM / Polar Stereographic) rather than `EPSG:4326`.	Reproject with `gdalwarp -t_srs EPSG:4326`.