Vertical Datum Conversion Utilities

You might also consider GDAL via OSGeo4W, which has the ability to do vertical datum transformations. I don't think that the OSGeo4W build has grid files for coastal Florida, but they could be developed. Search the GDAL Trac wiki or ask on the gdal-dev list for more information on how to develop your own .gtx grid file for coastal Florida.

GDAL, of course, has the advantage of being much easier to use than VERTCON, VDatum, or corpscon with the ability to open just about any vector or raster format.

A local thread with a couple recipes: Vertical Datum conversion of a raster with gdal


If you are doing vertical conversions over the ocean you really need to use VDatum.

Vdatum runs a detailed, unstructured mesh tidal model (ADCIRC model, usually), then computes tidal coefficients, generates an 18.6 year time series, then determines surfaces of MLW, MLLW, MHL, MHHW, etc. These surfaces are then evaluated at known tidal gauge locations, and the deviations are used to fit another surface which is then used to adjust the grids so there is no error at the gauge locations.

In the final step they intepolate to a regular grid, which forms the basis so the software conversion. But you can ask for the original surfaces on the original mesh (usually triangular) as well. I did this when I was correcting datums in the Gulf of Maine.

Good luck!

Rich