Digital Terrain Modeling is the process of simulating or representing the relief and patterns of a surface with numerical and digital methods. It has always been an integral component to geology related fields such as geomorphology, hydrology, tectonics and oceanography but over the past decade has also become a major component to non geophysical applications such as GIS modeling, surveying and land use planning.

Terrain Models are derived from data represented by digital elevation models (DEMs) and can include shaded relief models, slope and aspect models, perspective scene generation, and drainage basin analysis (and other models).