Table Of ContentThree dimensional applications in Geographical Information Systems
Three dimensional applications in
Geographical Information Systems
Edited by
Jonathan Raper
Department of Geography
Birkbeck College
University of London
Taylor & Francis
London New York Philadelphia
1989
USA Taylor & Francis Inc., 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007
UK Taylor & Francis Ltd., 4 John St., London, WC1N 2ET
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Ltd. 1989
Reprinted 1990 and 1993
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Three dimensional applications in Geographical Information Systems.
1.Geophysics. Technique
I. Raper, Jonathan
55T.028
ISBN 0-85066-776-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available
Cover Design by Jordan and Jordan, Fareham, Hants, UK
Cover diagram produced by Interactive Volume Modeling software from
Dynamic Graphics Inc.
Contents
Preface vii
Contributors ix
1. Three dimensional display of geologic data
J. Nicholas Van Driel 1
2. The 3-dimensional geoscientific mapping and modelling system: a conceptual
design
Jonathan F. Raper 11
3. Surface interpolation, spatial adjacency and GIS
Christopher M. Gold 21
4. Efficient mapping of heavy metal pollution on floodplains by co-kriging
from elevation data
Henk Leenaers, Peter A. Burrough and Joop P. Okx 37
5. The application of a digital relief model to landform analysis in geomorphology
Richard Dikau 51
6. Visualisation of digital terrain models: techniques and applications
Robin A. McLaren and Tom J. M. Kennie 79
7. Computer-assisted cartographical 3D imaging techniques
Menno J. Kraak 99
8. The role of three-dimensional geographic information systems in
subsurface characterization for hydrogeological applications
A. Keith Turner 115
9. Spatial data structures for modeling subsurface features
Carl Youngmann 129
10. Creating a 3-dimensional transect of the earth’s crust from craton to
ocean basin across the N. Appalachian Orogen.
John D. Unger, Lee M. Liberty, Jeffrey D. Phillips, and Bruce E.Wright 137
11. Three-dimensional GIS for the earth sciences
Dennis R. Smith and Arthur R. Paradis
12. Three dimensional representation in a Geoscientific Resource Management
System for the minerals industry
Peter R. G. Bak and Andrew J. B. Mill
Index
Preface
The study of process, form and spatial interrelationships in the geosciences must be carried
out, axiomatically, in 3 dimensions. The 3 dimensional computer modelling tools available to
the geoscientist in the 1970s and early 1980s only developed slowly along with computer
technology in the last decade, as typical tasks in the geosciences are computationally very
demanding and the data complex in character. Recently however, developments in computer
graphics, spatial theory and a marked improvement in the price/ performance ratio of
hardware have stimulated an explosive growth in software suitable for use in geoscientific
modelling. This new environment of growth appears to have initiated a self-perpetuating
technological cycle: faster hardware reduces the time taken on a task; more complex tasks are
programmed leading to a demand for more processing power; and so the demand for yet
faster hardware progresses. Geoscientists in a wide variety of sectors are now engaged in
developing and using this new generation of tools: that is the environment for the production
of this book.
My reasons for bringing together the contributions to this book are twofold. Firstly, it
became clear to me recently when conducting a survey of 3D mapping and modelling
software for the British Geological Survey that many researchers are working in this field in
parallel around the world, who would clearly benefit from an exchange of ideas. Secondly,
for those who are entering this field there is currently no up to date survey of research, and
no accessible discussion of the basic design principles for geoscientific mapping and
modelling systems. I hope that this book will meet some of these needs.
The book is broken loosely into 5 sections forming a progression from design to
implementation. The first section contains two contrasting papers which introduce 3D GIS.
Firstly, Nick Van Driel presents an overview of the available tools and requirements for 3
dimensional display, and discusses some of the applications of these tools at the USGS.
Secondly Jonathan Raper presents a conceptual design for the development of a geoscientific
mapping and modelling system, considering the relative merits of different data structures and
identifying the key aspects of query design for geoscientific data.
The second section concerns the use of surfaces to model geoscientific data. Chris Gold
discusses various approaches to contouring scattered data sets and argues for the use of
adjacency rather than distance criteria in interpolation. This contrasts with the paper by Henk
Leenaers, Peter Burrough and Joop Okx who consider how co-kriging of elevation with lead
contamination values can lead to better descriptions of contamination distribution than
standard surface fitting algorithms. Richard Dikau shows how surface modelling can be
applied to the problem of automatic landform classification from publicly available digital
elevation models.
The third group of papers consider the techniques and problems of visualisation as applied
to geoscientific data. Robin McLaren and Tom Kennie discuss the range of techniques for
viii
rendering images and illustrate some typical applications, whilst Menno Kraak considers the
problems of cartographic design in 3D from the point of view of perception.
A fourth set of papers contain some application studies of 3D GIS in use, and define many
of the practical problems which arise in modelling. Keith Turner considers the application of
3D GIS to dynamic modelling in hydrogeology and shows a diagram suggesting how
information should flow through a modelling system. This is followed by a paper by Carl
Youngmann who considers the data structure alternatives for the handling of geo-objects in
3D from experience in the petroleum exploration industry. Thirdly, John Unger et al. show
how 3D GIS is in use to its practical limits in the geophysical modelling of the earth’s crust in
Central Maine.
The last two papers describe functioning 3D GIS systems. Dennis Smith and Art Paradis
describe the facilities available in IVM -a new 3D GIS from Dynamic Graphics- and illustrate
the operation of a number of the spatial functions in a set of colour plates. Finally, Peter Bak
and Andrew Mill review the CAD literature, and describe the implementation of a 3D GIS
using octrees as a spatial data structure.
The papers contained in this book were presented at conferences held in the autumn of
1988 and the Spring of 1989 and so represent at the time of writing the most up to date
collection of published works in this field. It should be noted that the book is a collection of
disparate work gathered together for this book and was not commissioned specifically: as
such there may be some gaps in the coverage of this new field. These are for future authors
to fill!
Finally, no preface would be complete without thanks to those who have made this book
possible. Thanks firstly to the authors who all submitted discs or electronic mail
submissions: this book has been produced using Microsoft Word™ 3.01 on an Apple
Macintosh II in under 2 months and output in camera ready form. Many thanks to Apple UK
for the loan of the Mac II for this and other projects at Birkbeck.
However, thanks above all to my wife Frances who has suffered most from the constant
demands of ’’the book". Without her support, the project would never have been finished!
Jonathan Raper
Birkbeck College
March 1989
Contributors
Peter R. G. Bak Computer Aided Design Research Group, Dept, of Mineral
Resources Engineering, Royal School of Mines, Imperial
College, London SW7 2BP, UK.
Peter A. Burrough Department of Geography, State University of Utrecht P.O.
Box 80.115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Richard Dikau Department of Geography, University of Heidelberg, Im
Neuenheimer Feld, 348 D-6900 Heidelberg, Federal Republic
of Germany.
Christopher M. Gold Department of Geography, Memorial University of
Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, A IB 3X9,
Canada.
Tom J. M. Kennie Balfour Beattie Ltd., 7 Mayday Road, Thornton Heath,
London, UK
Menno J. Kraak Department of Geodesy, Delft University of Technology,
Thijsseweg 11,2622 JA Delft, The Netherlands
Henk Leenaers Department of Geography, State University of Utrecht P.O.
Box 80.115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Lee M. Liberty United States Geological Survey, 922 National Centre, Reston,
VA 22092, USA
Robin.A. McLaren Know Edge Ltd., 33 Lockharton Avenue, Edinburgh, EH14
1AY, UK.
Andrew J. B. Mill Computer Aided Design Research Group, Dept, of Mineral
Resources Engineering, Royal School of Mines, Imperial
College, London SW7 2BP
Joop P. Okx BKH Consulting Engineers, P.O. Box 93224, 2509 AE The
Hague, The Netherlands.
