(NASA) ASTER, on the NASA spacecraft Terra, is capable of collecting in-track stereo using nadir- and aft- looking near infrared cameras. Since 2001, these stereo pairs have been used to produce single-scene digital elevation models (DEM). The best quality data from the DEM record were compiled globally to generate the ASTER GDEM 2.
Best-Ever Topographic Map of Earth Released
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OCTOBER 18, 2011

The most complete digital topographic ever made of the Earth was released by NASA Monday.
Read the story: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44938627
The version 2 collection of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) was released jointly October 17, 2011 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) of Japan and the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The ASTER GDEM is available at no charge to users worldwide via electronic download from the Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC) of Japan and from NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC).
Read the NASA press release: lpdaac.usgs.gov/about/news_archive/monday