A new build is here! The major new thing is support for SRTM1 and custom digital elevation models (DEMS). Well, when I say “custom”, I actually mean anything that’s compatible with SRTM *.hgt files. You can read more about this in Maperitive’s online book.

I wanted to do a little test of the new functionality so I decided to choose a small area of Alps as my testing ground. I chose Alps because there’s a good DEM source for Alps, which I wrote about some time ago: Viewfinder’s DEM so I can compare it with standard SRTM3 data.

The results are stunning. Here’s a sample hiking map of Lake Brienz using standard SRTM3 DEM (notice the “white” spots which are missing elevation data):

Brienzersee hiking map using SRTM3 DEM

And now for something completely different, a man with three buttocks:

Brienzersee hiking map using Viewfinder's Alps SRTM1 DEM

I especially like the slopes shading north of the lake.