TCAS Training — Course 04 · Geospatial
DSM / DEM Elevation Product
Produce the Terra surface model and a terrain pass from classified ground, and describe them without overstating what they are.
Included in the Professional 2D Mapping System — $499 ($744 individually), and in the Complete Mastery System ($799 introductory).
Prelaunch: online checkout is not open yet. The complete 15-course Rev. 3 curriculum is written and finalized — join the launch list and we will email enrollment details, pricing confirmation, and availability the moment it opens.
What You Will Produce
A DJI Terra DSM (dsm.tif) and a DEM/terrain product derived from the classified-ground pass, exported as GeoTIFF with a styled elevation visualization for a client exhibit.
Who This Is For
- Operators asked for elevation data
- Pilots supporting drainage, grading, and planning conversations
Prerequisites & Required Equipment
- Course 03 or equivalent classified-cloud experience
What You Will Learn
- DSM versus DEM: what each one represents and when to send which
- Where Terra writes dsm.tif and how to preserve it
- Producing the terrain pass from the classified ground result
- Resolution choices and interpolation artifacts
- Color ramps and hillshade that read correctly for a non-technical reader
- Why contour, Grid, and TIN outputs were OFF in the TCAS reference run — and why this is not a topographic or survey product
Hands-On Assignment
Produce a DSM and a DEM/terrain export from your project data and build one styled elevation exhibit with conservative accuracy language.
Required Final Deliverable / Success Criteria
- Both rasters exported with documented resolution and CRS
- Legend, units, and vertical reference clearly labeled
- Exhibit explicitly avoids survey or topographic-product claims
Planned Course Materials
The complete 15-course Rev. 3 curriculum is written and finalized. Online delivery, downloads, and checkout are being set up now — course files are not downloadable today. Join the launch list and we will email you when enrollment opens.
- Structured workflow training manual (Rev. 3 curriculum — written and finalized, delivered at launch)
- Exact verified reference settings, clearly separated from job-dependent decisions
- Printable field or processing checklist (delivered at launch)
- Project-folder template with the TCAS naming convention (delivered at launch)
- QA pass/fail release criteria for the final deliverable
- Troubleshooting notes from real failures on completed TCAS workflows
- Planned at launch: practice dataset where licensing allows
- Elevation exhibit template
Secure card checkout through Square is being connected. Until it is live, submit an enrollment request and TCAS will reserve your seat and send a payment link.
Paid courses can include a TCAS Certificate of Completion. It is a course-completion credential documenting the workflow you finished and the deliverable you produced — it is not an FAA certificate, surveying license, engineering credential, or any regulatory or professional certification.
An RTK FIX status alone is not proof of validated absolute accuracy. Projects that require survey-grade or control-based accuracy need appropriate ground control, independent validation, and licensed professionals where legally required. Students are taught to distinguish visualization and photogrammetry products from products that require validated survey control or licensed professional sign-off.
TCAS training is independent professional-development training and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FAA, DJI, QGIS, Blender, Cesium, Apple, or other manufacturers, software providers, or professional licensing boards unless expressly stated. Completion does not grant an FAA certificate, surveying license, engineering credential, or other professional license.