Script that imports the SRTM data in a PostGIS (PostgreSQL) database.  
 
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Route_altitude_profiles_SRTM#SRTM_import
 
Usage:
First run the tests that come with this script:
 
python test/test_download.py
 
Then download the SRTM source files (635 MB for Australia):
 
$ python download.py continent
 
(replace continent by Africa, Australia, Eurasia, Islands, 
North_America or South_America.
 
Second argument (optional) specifies from which tile to resume. 
Use full file name e.g. 'N36W004.hgt.zip'. Set to 0 start at the first file. 
Argument 3-6 optionally specify a bounding box: north, south, west, east.
 
Verify that the download went correctly:
 
python test/verify_download.py continent
 
Unzip the files (adds 3 GB):
$ for f in `ls *.zip`; do unzip $f; done
 
Create a PostGIS database (you may need to change some things here depending on 
your system):
 
$ createdb srtm
$ createlang plpgsql srtm
$ psql -d srtm -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/lwpostgis.sql
$ psql -d srtm -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/spatial_ref_sys.sql
 
Create a test database:
 
$ createdb srtm_test
$ createlang plpgsql srtm_test
$ psql -d srtm_test -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/lwpostgis.sql
$ psql -d srtm_test -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/spatial_ref_sys.sql
 
Run script that reads files and puts them in the database.
Test it first:
 
$ python test/test_read_data.py
$ python read_data.py continent
 
Verify the result
 
$ python read_data.py continent verify 
 
All altitude data should now be in the table 'altitude'. Enjoy.