The paper analyzes digital elevation models (DEM) of the same area based on different sources and methods of geospatial data collection. An open-source DEM was created in the mountainous area of Colus County, which is the northern part of the US state of California. At the same time, the data on terrain elevation refer to LiDAR surveys and the content of topographic maps, while ASTER data are based on ellipsoidal heights. Also, the source data contain a certain error of the chosen collection method and the processing process itself, as well as errors related to mutual deviations of the height reference systems. Ignoring the height system, it is observed that the error of the data source significantly affects the quality of the model display as well as the terrain details. The display of DEM based on LiDAR data is very close to DEM based on data from topographic maps, in contrast to the elevation model obtained based on ASTER images.