The major thrust of this research is representation and operation on terrain data using computational geometry techniques. That includes operations such as data compression, visibility, mobility, and drainage, representing multiple related data layers, and multiple data source correlations, and nonlinear representations. This project is cognizant of the peculiar properties of terrain, including its low level of continuity, its long-range correlations (such as drainage basins), and its vertical asymmetry (there are many local maxima, but few local minima). New terraforming operators include scooping and deposition and erosion. Efficiency in both computational space and time is also a priority.
The importance of terrain modeling and computational cartography is attested by the number of companies specializing in this, and by the several database companies attempting to add these features to their generic products. New techniques are necessary because of the growing volume of data from sources such as LIDAR and IFSAR. The techniques developed here will be applicable in a growing range of domains from environmental planning, to radio communication on the Moon and Mars as well as on the earth, and to national defense. Visibility determination has applications from minimizing visual nuisances, to siting of military observers, and to route planning to avoid the other side's observers. The software resulting from this project will be freely available to other researchers.
