coordinate systemellipsoidgdalgeoidvertical-transformation
Can GDAL perform vertical transformations?
If the answer is yes, please indicate which amongst these listed pages can explain how exactly to accomplish vertical transformations?
If there is some other page discussing how exactly to accomplish vertical transformations, please indicate URL.
This question arises after reading Jason's question Vertical Datum Conversion Utilities from a couple of years ago and the partial answer given.
I had the same error (with a different SRID). Solution was to use the/an Esri WKT on spatialreference.org, which does not cause an issue with the ProjNet CoordinateSystemWktReader
The term horizontal datum is used because it is more easily flattened into 2 dimensions and more useful for finding locations on a flat plane (compared to a vertical datum).
As in the ESRI post you referenced (image below), the Earth's surface is very uneven, so modeling this very difficult. The "ellipsoid" used in horizontal datums is close approximation of Earth's surface. While you can use a horizontal datum to determine height simply because it is a 3D model, it is not as useful as a geoid (used in vertical datums) which has some "physical" meaning because it approximates mean sea level fairly accurately. Therefore, heights are better represented or estimated with a geoid because they represent a physical estimate of mean sea level. Maybe someone else can explain it better..
Best Answer
No GDAL cannot perform vertical transformations.