I'm working on an app to visualize terrain data in virtual reality for a small mountainous region in Japan (centered around Hakuba). The freely available data I've found for this region (ASTER, SRTM for example) is limited to 30m in resolution. The purpose of my project is to be able to explore navigation routes through the mountains, so 30m data is very limited in that it's difficult to see creeks, small cliffs, etc. Even so, Google Earth (which I presume to be of around 30m resolution in this area though I don't know) is very useful.
I know that sub 5m resolution map data exists for some parts of the world, and I think that data at this resolution could be even more useful to me. I've done some digging and sent a few inquiries, but the GIS world is new to me and I'm not sure if I'm talking to the right people or asking the right questions. I'm willing to pay for the data, though as this is a personal project I wouldn't want to pay more than a few hundred dollars, and I have no idea what high res DEM data costs for such a small region.
Additionally, I'm not entirely sure if I want raster data or vector data. My purpose is to generate a textured 3d mesh based on the data, so I suppose either would work.
Best Answer
Japan's Geospatial Information Authority (GSI) provides free DEM of 5m/10m resolution.
Fundamental Geospatial Data (language: Japanese)
If your app can read GeoTIFF, widely used converter from JPGIS to GeoTIFF is available at Ecoris,Inc. (ms-windows app).