A quality assessment report issued August 8, 2026 by NASA's Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program evaluated two Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) EarthDEM digital surface models: the "Mosaic Tile" and "Strip" products. NASA Digital Elevation Model subject matter experts compared the products with airborne lidar samples from across the United States and Senegal.

Horizontal accuracy was 0.5-meter Root Mean Square Error Horizontal (RMSEH) for the Strip DSM and 0.3 m RMSEH for the Mosaic Tile, matching PGC specifications and graded "Excellent." Vertical accuracy was 5.6 m Root Mean Square Error Vertical (RMSEV) for the Strip DSM and 4.9 m RMSEV for the Mosaic Tile; results varied by land cover type, and all land cover types exceeded PGC's specification of 0.5 m RMSEV. Strip DSM vertical accuracy ranged from 4.6 to 6.8 m RMSEV depending on a cloud cover metadata field generated by PGC. Vertical accuracy compliance was graded "Basic."

NASA reported that the assessment supports EarthDEM use for Earth science research and applications provided data characteristics such as vertical accuracy, poor cloud masking, missing surface features and data voids suit the specific objectives. A documentation review found the product overall "well documented." NASA noted the report's authors state EarthDEM is not technically a commercial product and is derived from imagery collected by the Vantor (formerly Maxar) optical satellite fleet.