# How to setup terrain server

**URL:** <https://community.cesium.com/t/how-to-setup-terrain-server/6036>\
**Category:** CesiumJS\
**Created:** [September 11, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://community.cesium.com/t/how-to-setup-terrain-server/6036 "2017-09-11T06:48:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vinay\_g](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/eada6e/32.png) [@vinay\_g](https://community.cesium.com/u/vinay_g)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://community.cesium.com/t/how-to-setup-terrain-server/6036/1 "2017-09-11T06:48:18Z")

</div>

Hi

I want to setup my own terrain server, terrain data from sever will be rendered and displayed in browser through cesium.

Doubts i have.

1) How to setup the terrain server.  
2) Terrain data in .dem file, how to host it on server.  
3) Is there any conversions required for .dem file to hosted on server, what should i do display the terrain data on browser.

Regards  
Vinay

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gabby\_Getz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/cesium/user_avatar/community.cesium.com/gabby_getz/32/7838_2.png) [@Gabby\_Getz](https://community.cesium.com/u/Gabby_Getz)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://community.cesium.com/t/how-to-setup-terrain-server/6036/2 "2017-09-15T15:32:54Z")

</div>

Hi Vinay,

Cesium doesn’t have any official terrain server or documentation on how to set one up.

Our parent company AGI offers an official [STK World Terrain](https://cesiumjs.org/data-and-assets/terrain/stk-world-terrain.html) Server you could use, or if you have your own data, our [3D Tiles Pioneers](https://cesium.com/3d-tiles-pioneers/) program may be a good fit for you.

Thanks!

Gabby

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mark\_Erikson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/cesium/user_avatar/community.cesium.com/mark_erikson/32/2024_2.png) [@Mark\_Erikson](https://community.cesium.com/u/Mark_Erikson)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://community.cesium.com/t/how-to-setup-terrain-server/6036/3 "2017-09-15T16:10:58Z")

</div>

I’d like to write a blog post eventually about how to do this kind of thing, but it’s _wayyyy_ down the todo list right now.

As a quick summary: you’ll need to convert your DEM files into the file formats that Cesium can use (“heightmaps” or “quantized-mesh”), make sure they’re in a standard folder/file format like TMS or MBTiles, then serve those files using a standard HTTP static file server (or specialized server that can read and serve tiles from an MBTiles container file).

A couple quick resources:

[https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog585/node/708](https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog585/node/708)

> <https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/144821/hosting-rasters-as-tile-server>

  
[https://github.com/geo-data/cesium-terrain-builder](https://github.com/geo-data/cesium-terrain-builder)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gabby\_Getz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/cesium/user_avatar/community.cesium.com/gabby_getz/32/7838_2.png) [@Gabby\_Getz](https://community.cesium.com/u/Gabby_Getz)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://community.cesium.com/t/how-to-setup-terrain-server/6036/4 "2017-09-15T18:13:19Z")

</div>

Thanks for a much more thorough answer, Mark! 😀

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vinay\_g](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/eada6e/32.png) [@vinay\_g](https://community.cesium.com/u/vinay_g)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://community.cesium.com/t/how-to-setup-terrain-server/6036/5 "2017-09-18T03:25:34Z")

</div>

Thank you Gabby Getz & Mark Erikson for the information.

I’m Looking at your suggestions. I will contact you for any further information.