# Leveller – Daylon Leveller Heightfield

Driver short name

Leveller

Driver built-in by default

This driver is built-in by default

Leveller heightfields store 32-bit elevation values. Format versions 4 through 9 are supported with various caveats (see below). The file extension for Leveller heightfields is “TER” (which is the same as Terragen, but the driver only recognizes Leveller files).

Blocks are organized as pixel-high scanlines (rows), with the first scanline at the top (north) edge of the DEM, and adjacent pixels on each line increasing from left to right (west to east).

The band type is always Float32, even though format versions 4 and 5 physically use 16.16 fixed-point. The driver auto-converts them to floating-point.

## Driver capabilities

Supports CreateCopy()

This driver supports the `GDALDriver::CreateCopy()` operation

Supports Create()

This driver supports the `GDALDriver::Create()` operation

Supports Georeferencing

This driver supports georeferencing

Supports VirtualIO

This driver supports virtual I/O operations (/vsimem/, etc.)

## Reading

`dataset::GetProjectionRef()` will return only a local coordinate system for file versions 4 through 6.

`dataset::GetGeoTransform()` returns a simple world scaling with a centered origin for formats 4 through 6. For versions 7 and higher, it returns a real-world transform except for rotations. The identity transform is not considered an error condition; Leveller documents often use them.

`band::GetUnitType()` will report the measurement units used by the file instead of converting unusual types to meters. A list of unit types is in the `levellerdataset.cpp` module.

`band::GetScale()` and `band::GetOffset()` will return the physical-to-logical (i.e., raw to real-world) transform for the elevation data.

## Writing

The `dataset::Create()` call is supported, but for version 7 files only.

`band::SetUnitType()` can be set to any of the unit types listed in the `levellerdataset.cpp` module.

`dataset::SetGeoTransform()` should not include rotation data.

As with the Terragen driver, the `MINUSERPIXELVALUE` option must be specified. This lets the driver correctly map from logical (real-world) elevations to physical elevations.

Header information is written out on the first call to `band::IWriteBlock`.

## See Also:

- Implemented as `gdal/frmts/leveller/levellerdataset.cpp`.

- Visit Daylon Graphics for the Leveller SDK, which documents the Leveller format.