Statistical Characterization of Altitude Matrices by Computer. Report 5. Terrain Analysis: Program Documentation

Abstract

The terrain analysis system of programs derives, from a matrix of altitude data, the descriptive characteristics of gradient, aspect, and profile and plan convexity for the central point of each 3 x 3 square set of adjacent grid points. The characteristics are derived algebraically from a quadratic fitted by the least squares method to each set of 9 points. For the whole matrix, the mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis are found for the calculated altitude, gradient and profile and plan convexities. The vector mean of the aspect is found and also the regression of each of the other characteristics with the sine and cosine of the aspect. The descriptive characteristics are displayed in several ways, viz, histograms, scatter diagrams and line printer density maps. A map is produced on the graph plotter giving the direction and magnitude of the gradient at each grid point. The programs are written in FORTRAN; they call SPSS and MIDAS routines and run under the MTS system on the NUMAC IBM 370/168 computer.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1978
Accession Number
ADA086793

Entities

People

  • Ian S. Evans
  • Margaret Young

Organizations

  • Durham University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Aspect Angle
  • Boundaries
  • Coefficients
  • Computer Graphics
  • Computers
  • Curvature
  • Equations
  • Geography
  • Grids
  • Image Processing
  • Least Squares Method
  • Parallel Computing
  • Parallel Processing
  • Statistics
  • Terrain
  • Two Dimensional

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Business Analytics
  • Geodesy