Creating DEM from contours in QGIS?
Yes, there are several options available in QGIS:
- Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) Interpolation plugin - see this for a tutorial (archived from the original).
- GDAL Raster plugin - to access, click
Raster > Grid (Interpolation). GDAL's interpolation is more robust because you can use other interpolation algorithms (IDW, nearest neighbor, moving average, etc.). This tools only works for point data. - GRASS GIS Plugin - there are several modules you can use (
v.surf.*andr.surf.*). You need convert your shapefile into a GRASS database to use the GRASS modules in QGIS.
GRASS has also many options
http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/Contour_lines_to_DEM
available one way or another also trough the QGIS/GRASS plugin.
I just posted this answer on another thread that was asking the same question. This is by far the easiest method that I have found.
I had the same question and looked everywhere! Finally a solution - you need to use "TIN interpolation". This video explains it perfectly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhJ77uHlTJA
It demonstrates other processes as well but the main thing is they used contour line data and created a DEM. Really good explanation as well.
Key tools used:
- TIN interpolation (Processing Toolbox)
- Slope (you can skip this one)(Processing Toolbox)
- Hillshade (Raster tab)