METHOD FOR PRODUCING PROPERTY-PRESERVING VARIABLE RESOLUTION MODELS OF SURFACES

摘要

A computer-implemented method of generating, with respect to a surface, a model-specific, computationally efficient representation of a data set pertaining to a property of the surface. In one embodiment, the data set is mapped with an index function to create mapped data points; the mapped data points; using a selection function, mapped points are selected, for each group, for inclusion in a final representation; and a final representation of the data set is generated using, for each mapped point in each group which is selected for inclusion a corresponding original data point. The method is capable of generating a variable resolution model by using a physics-based or model-specific index function to indicate the impact of data on a model. The method may be used to generate TIN models used in areas such a hydrology or geomorphology.