Dtm format save only heights

Question

I need dtm format that store only heights and scaling and left up position for saving storage

I glad to know if any stadard save heights that way

Answer 1

Base on your specification, i think ESRI ASCII raster format is the most suitable format. This link explain the basic structure of ESRI ASCII format :

http://resources.esri.com/help/9.3/arcgisdesktop/com/gp_toolref/spatial_analyst_tools/esri_ascii_raster_format.htm

I hope you can figure out how the header and the value can match with your specification (heights and scaling and left up position). Remind that you add GDAL in your tag, it seems that you need to know how to convert DEM inputed by GDAL into your specifically format which means ESRI ASCII format base on my opinion. These are the script i've been made so far, i'm using python :

from osgeo import gdal
from gdalconst import *
import numpy as np

# Input DEM raster data by using GDAL
filename_dem = raw_input("Input DEM FILE : ") 
dem_surface = gdal.Open( filename_dem, GA_ReadOnly )
geotransform = dem_surface.GetGeoTransform()
DEM_Value = np.array(dem_surface.GetRasterBand(1).ReadAsArray(), dtype ="float")

# Get the basic raster information 
Col = dem_surface.RasterXSize
Row = dem_surface.RasterYSize
Origin_X = geotransform[0]
Origin_Y = geotransform[3]
Cell_Size = geotransform[1]
CRS = dem_surface.GetProjection()

# Write into ESRI ASCII format
filename_ras = raw_input("Output Raster PATH :")+'.asc' 
out = open(filename_ras, 'wb+')
out.write('ncols         %i\n' % Col)
out.write('nrows         %i\n' % Row)
out.write('xllcorner     %f\n' % Origin_X)
out.write('yllcorner     %f\n' % (Origin_Y - (Cell_Size * Row)) )
out.write('cellsize      %i\n' % Cell_Size)
out.write('NODATA_value  %i\n' % 0)
np.savetxt(out, DEM_Value, fmt="%4i")

base on my answer below, i use GDAL firstly to read DEM data from any format, translate the value (height) into array by using numpy, then store it into ESRI ASCII (.asc) data format. I hope this is what you means and it can helping you..