Name

ST_Slope — Returns the slope (in degrees by default) of an elevation raster band. Useful for analyzing terrain.

Synopsis

raster ST_Slope(raster rast, integer nband=1, text pixeltype=32BF, text units=DEGREES, double precision scale=1.0, boolean interpolate_nodata=FALSE);

raster ST_Slope(raster rast, integer nband, raster customextent, text pixeltype=32BF, text units=DEGREES, double precision scale=1.0, boolean interpolate_nodata=FALSE);

Description

Returns the slope (in degrees by default) of an elevation raster band. Utilizes map algebra and applies the slope equation to neighboring pixels.

units indicates the units of the slope. Possible values are: RADIANS, DEGREES (default), PERCENT.

scale is the ratio of vertical units to horizontal. For Feet:LatLon use scale=370400, for Meters:LatLon use scale=111120.

If interpolate_nodata is TRUE, values for NODATA pixels from the input raster will be interpolated using ST_InvDistWeight4ma before computing the surface slope.

[Note]

For more information about Slope, Aspect and Hillshade, please refer to ESRI - How hillshade works and ERDAS Field Guide - Slope Images.

Availability: 2.0.0

Enhanced: 2.1.0 Uses ST_MapAlgebra() and added optional units, scale, interpolate_nodata function parameters

Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, return values were in radians. Now, return values default to degrees

Examples: Variant 1

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_SetValues(
		ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '32BF', 0, -9999),
		1, 1, 1, ARRAY[
			[1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
			[1, 2, 2, 2, 1],
			[1, 2, 3, 2, 1],
			[1, 2, 2, 2, 1],
			[1, 1, 1, 1, 1]
		]::double precision[][]
	) AS rast
)
SELECT
	ST_DumpValues(ST_Slope(rast, 1, '32BF'))
FROM foo

                            st_dumpvalues

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 (1,"{{10.0249881744385,21.5681285858154,26.5650520324707,21.5681285858154,10.0249881744385},{21.5681285858154,35.2643890380859,36.8698959350586,35.2643890380859,21.5681285858154},
{26.5650520324707,36.8698959350586,0,36.8698959350586,26.5650520324707},{21.5681285858154,35.2643890380859,36.8698959350586,35.2643890380859,21.5681285858154},{10.0249881744385,21.
5681285858154,26.5650520324707,21.5681285858154,10.0249881744385}}")
(1 row)
					

Examples: Variant 2

Complete example of tiles of a coverage. This query only works with PostgreSQL 9.1 or higher.

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_Tile(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(6, 6, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				1, '32BF', 0, -9999
			),
			1, 1, 1, ARRAY[
				[1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
				[1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1],
				[1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 1],
				[1, 1, 3, 2, 1, 1],
				[1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1],
				[1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]
			]::double precision[]
		),
		2, 2
	) AS rast
)
SELECT
	t1.rast,
	ST_Slope(ST_Union(t2.rast), 1, t1.rast)
FROM foo t1
CROSS JOIN foo t2
WHERE ST_Intersects(t1.rast, t2.rast)
GROUP BY t1.rast;
					

See Also

ST_MapAlgebra (callback function version), ST_TRI, ST_TPI, ST_Roughness, ST_HillShade, ST_Aspect