How routing works
When you run TerrainIQ, PVMath checks your site location and selects a region-routed DEM. All sources are resampled to the same 5 m analysis grid inside your boundary — see GLO-30 vs 5 m grid for why grid spacing and native posting are different numbers.
Europe — Copernicus EEA-10
EEA-10 (~10 m posting) is preferred for sites in the European screening bounds (34–72°N, −25–45°E). It generally gives sharper slope signals than global 30 m products for early civil review.
If EEA-10 tiles are unavailable for a location, TerrainIQ falls back to Copernicus GLO-30.
USA — USGS 3DEP
USGS 3DEP (~10 m where available) is the default route for United States coordinates. Coverage and quality vary by tile — some areas still resolve to coarser public data.
Rest of world — FABDEM
FABDEM (bare-earth style, ~30 m) is the global default outside Europe and the USA. It reduces vegetation/building bias compared with raw DSM surfaces — useful for ground-mount screening where canopy matters.
GLO-30 remains the global fallback when the preferred source cannot be fetched.
What you see in the app
- terrain_source_used — which dataset was actually applied
- Terrain PDF disclaimer — native posting and routing notes
- reference.json — export metadata for CAD handoff