Abstract
Reliable digital terrain modelling necessarily needs to be based upon a set of rules which first prescribe how to discretise the continuous terrain surface, and second define the assumptions determining the subsequent interpolation. Unresolved problems in automated DTM analysis are mostly due to a failure of today’s approach to fully appreciate the implications of these rules. The functional limitations imposed by monolithic GISs are identified as a major reason for this failure. The Pluggable Terrain Module (PTM) presented in this paper is proposed to overcome these drawbacks by using a modular approach. The basic idea is to move the processing of terrain information from GISs to the PTM; communication with other software components is specified by a set of interfaces, shifting terrain modelling towards distributed and interoperable geoprocessing. Based on the notions of the OpenGIS Geodata Model (OGM), the PTM design is proposed and its implications and benefits to terrain modelling are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Buehler, K., McKee, L.: The OpenGIS Guide. OpenGIS Consortium, Inc., Wayland, Massachussetts, OGIS TC Document 96-001 (1996), available at http://www.opengis.org/techno/guide.html
Cook, S., Daniels, J.: Designing Object Systems - Object-oriented Modelling with Syntropy. Prentice Hall, New York (1994)
Federal Geographic Data Committee: Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (revised June 1998), Federal Geographic Data Committee, Washington, D. C. (1998)
Stephan, E.-M., Vckovski, A., Bucher, F.: Virtual Data Set - An Approach for the Integration of Incompatible Data. In: Proceedings of the AUTOCARTO 11 Conference, pp. 93–102 (1993)
Vckovski, A.: Interoperable and Distributed Geoprocessing. Taylor and Francis, London (1998)
Wood, J.: Scale-Based Characterisation of Digital Elevation Models. In: Parker, D. (ed.) Innovations in GIS 3, pp. 163–175. Taylor and Francis, London (1996)
Wood, J.: Activating Scale-Based Uncertainty in Digital Elevation Models. In: Paper presented at the First Cassini Workshop on Data Quality in Geographic Information, Paris, April 21st - 23rd (1997), available at http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/jwo/research/conferences/Paris97/index.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Martinoni, D., Schneider, B. (1999). Pluggable Terrain Module – Moving Digital Terrain Modelling to a Distributed Geoprocessing Environment. In: Včkovski, A., Brassel, K.E., Schek, HJ. (eds) Interoperating Geographic Information Systems. INTEROP 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1580. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/10703121_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/10703121_25
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-65725-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49017-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive