Use of Cartosat-1 elevation data for local-scale terrain studies in India: a case study

The Cartosat-1 satellite provides relatively high-resolution elevation data, which is publicly available for free, for most parts of India. Yet, published works applying such data in the local geographical context are few. This paper illustrates the application of CartoDEM, an elevation dataset based on Cartosat-1, to develop a coarse geographic narrative of the terrain at the tehsil level. Kotra tehsil in Udaipur district of Rajasthan, India, was used as a case study. It was found that the data, along with the calibration and analysis methods used here, allows a fairly well-resolved understanding of the terrain of the tehsil, including identification of major landforms and quantification of terrain metrics such as elevation and roughness. The free and easy availability of such data shows offers the potential for such studies to be performed for any local area for which CartoDEM or similar data exists.