基于数字高程模型的混合流向算法

从数字高程模型提取的汇水网络和汇水区等信息是分布式水文模型及应用分析的基础参数,基于地表汇水模拟的算法是提取该类信息的主要方法,其中,水流方向的确定对提取结果有着直接的影响。单流向算法因其易于实现、易于确定上游汇水区等特性,得到了广泛应用,然而单流向算法在坡度平缓区域会产生不自然的平行径流,能模拟地表水流分散径流特点的多流向算法可以在一定程度上避免此问题,但多流向算法使得不同区域的汇水单元可能存在交叉。本文结合两类流向算法各自的优点和适用性,设计实现了一种混合流向算法,以期在不同的地形条件下模拟得到更加合理的水流分配。首先,使用基于模板的形态检测方法,在给定阈值的基础上,对数字地形进行了分类,DEM被划分为山谷、山脊、鞍部、缓坡和陡坡5类。对陡坡、山谷和山脊区域运用单流向算法;对缓坡和鞍部区域采用多流向算法确定径流方向并进行水量分配。本文选取了黄土地貌和中低山丘陵的两个流域作为研究区,利用并采用了30 m和90 m两个分辨率的DEM。本文研究将混合流向算法与现有其他算法的结果进行比较。相比于多流向算法,该算法结果中的分散效应受到明显的抑制,相比于单流向算法,非自然的平行径流也大幅减少。同时,混合流向算法在较大分辨率DEM上（30 m）改进效果更加明显。     

A Triangular Form‐based Multiple Flow Algorithm to Estimate Overland Flow Distribution and Accumulation on a Digital Elevation Model

In this study, we present a newly developed method for the estimation of surface flow paths on a digital elevation model (DEM). The objective is to use a form‐based algorithm, analyzing flow over single cells by dividing them into eight triangular facets and to estimate the surface flow paths on a raster DEM. For each cell on a gridded DEM, the triangular form‐based multiple flow algorithm (TFM) was used to distribute flow to one or more of the eight neighbor cells, which determined the flow paths over the DEM. Because each of the eight facets covering a cell has a constant slope and aspect, the estimations of – for example – flow direction and divergence/convergence are more intuitive and less complicated than many traditional raster‐based solutions. Experiments were undertaken by estimating the specific catchment area (SCA) over a number of mathematical surfaces, as well as on a real‐world DEM. Comparisons were made between the derived SCA by the TFM algorithm with eight other algorithms reported in the literature. The results show that the TFM algorithm produced the closest outcomes to the theoretical values of the SCA compared with other algorithms, derived more consistent outcomes, and was less influenced by surface shapes. The real‐world DEM test shows that the TFM was capable of modeling flow distribution without noticeable ‘artefacts’, and its ability to track flow paths makes it an appropriate platform for dynamic surface flow simulation.     

Spheroidal equal angular DEMs: The specificity of morphometric treatment

Digital elevation models (DEMs) are commonly constructed using two main types of regular grids: plane square grids and spheroidal equal angular grids. Methods and algorithms intended for plane square‐gridded DEMs should not be directly applied to spheroidal equal angular DEMs. This is because these grids have fundamentally different geometry. However, some researchers continue to apply square‐grid algorithms to spheroidal equal angular DEMs. It seems appropriate to consider once again the specifity of morphometric treatment of spheroidal equal angular DEMs. This article, first, demonstrates possibilities of direct calculation of local, nonlocal, and combined morphometric variables from spheroidal equal angular DEMs exemplified by slope gradient, catchment area, and topographic index. Second, the article shows computational errors when algorithms for plane square‐gridded DEMs are unreasonably applied to spheroidal equal angular DEMs. The study is exemplified by two DEMs. A medium‐resolution DEM of a relatively small, high‐mountainous area (Mount Elbrus) was extracted from the SRTM1 DEM. A low‐resolution DEM of a vast region with the diverse topography (the central and western regions of Kenya) was extracted from the SRTM30_PLUS DEM. The results show that application of square‐grid methods to spheroidal equal angular DEMs leads to substantial computational errors in models of morphometric variables.     

从规则格网DEM自动提取汇水区域及其子区域的方法

从DEM自动提取的汇水区域及其子区域信息对进一步的水文分析有着重要的辅助作用.在经过洼地处理的DEM及得到水流方向矩阵的基础上,本文提出并实现了一种汇水区域及其子区域的提取算法.该算法首先提取整个DEM区域内每条河流的汇水区域,然后按照不同的要求划分子区域.经过试验,与现有的方法相比,该算法在提取效率和结果准确性方面都有明显提高.     

The isotropic organization of DEM structure and extraction of valley lines using hexagonal grid

The automatic extraction of valley lines (VLs) from digital elevation models (DEMs) has had a long history in the GIS and hydrology fields. The quality of the extracted results relies on the geometrical shape, spatial tessellation, and placement of the grids in the DEM structure. The traditional DEM structure consists of square grids with an eight‐neighborhood relationship, where there is an inconsistent distance measurement between orthogonal neighborhoods and diagonal neighborhoods. The directional difference results in the extracted VLs by the D8 algorithm not guaranteeing isotropy characteristics. Alternatively, hexagonal grids have been proved to be advantageous over square grids due to their consistent connectivity, isotropy of local neighborhoods, higher symmetry, increased compactness, and more. Considering the merits above, this study develops an approach to VL extraction from DEMs based on hexagonal grids. First, the pre‐process phase contains the depression filling, flow direction calculation, and flow accumulation calculation based on the six‐neighborhood relationship. Then, the flow arcs are connected, followed by estimating the flow direction. Finally, the connected paths are organized into a tree structure. To explore the effectiveness of hexagonal grids, comparative experiments are implemented against traditional DEMs with square grids using three sample regions. By analyzing the results between these two grid structures via visual and quantitative comparison, we conclude that the hexagonal grid structure has an outstanding ability in maintaining the location accuracy and bending characteristics of extracted valley networks. That is to say, the DEM‐derived VLs based on hexagonal grids have better spatial agreement with mapped river systems and lower shape diversion under the same resolution representation. Therefore, the DEMs with hexagonal grids can extract finer valley networks with the same data volume relative to traditional DEM.     

Improved Priority‐Flood method for depression filling by redundant calculation optimization in local micro‐relief areas

Depression filling is a critical step in distributed hydrological modeling using digital elevation models (DEMs). The traditional Priority‐Flood (PF) approach is widely used due to its relatively high efficiency when dealing with a small‐sized DEM. However, it seems inadequate and inefficient when dealing with large high‐resolution DEMs. In this work, we examined the relationship between the PF algorithm calculation process and the topographical characteristics of depressions, and found significant redundant calculations in the local micro‐relief areas in the conventional PF algorithm. As such calculations require more time when dealing with large DEMs, we thus propose a new variant of the PF algorithm, wherein redundant points and calculations are recognized and eliminated based on the local micro‐relief water‐flow characteristics of the depression‐filling process. In addition, depressions and flatlands were optimally processed by a quick queue to improve the efficiency of the process. The proposed method was applied and validated in eight case areas using the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission digital elevation model (SRTM‐DEM) with 1 arc‐second resolution. These selected areas have different data sizes. A comparative analysis among the proposed method, the Wang and Liu‐based PF, the improved Barnes‐based PF, the improved Zhou‐based PF, and the Planchon and Darboux (P&D) algorithms was conducted to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The results showed that the proposed algorithm is 43.2% (maximum) faster than Wang and Liu's variant of the PF method, with an average of 31.8%. In addition, the proposed algorithm achieved similar performance to the improved Zhou‐based PF algorithm, though our algorithm has the advantage of being simpler. The optimal strategies using the proposed algorithm can be employed in various landforms with high efficiency. The proposed method can also achieve good depression filling, even with large amounts of DEM data.     

Landscape drainage modelling to enhance Landsat classification accuracies

Studies integrating digital elevation models (DEMs) with multispectral digital satellite data have typically concentrated on geographic areas characterized by moderate to high topographic relief. Variables such as elevation, slope gradient and aspect contribute most significantly to the zonation of vegetation in these environments. In areas where relief is low, vegetation zonation is based not on individual form elements but rather on physical processes. The purpose of this research was to investigate the potential of integrating multispectral and ancillary process data in such a low relief environment. For this a study area was chosen in the Boreal forest of west central Alberta where the zonation of vegetation is based, to a large extent, on landscape drainage. An initial classification of forest cover based on Landsat multispectral data yielded overall classification accuracies of 58%. A DEM was developed from a digitized 1:50,000 topographic map sheet. The differential geometry of the DEM was mapped as a series of coverages: slope, aspect, and directional curvatures (down ‐ and across slope). Two additional coverages, relief and flow paths, were also developed and mapped. A data set was extracted from the DEM through which landscape drainage could be evaluated. A univariate analysis of drainage using the form variables resulted in a 45% to 47% explanation of the observed variation. Multivariate analysis combining slope gradient, across and down slope curvatures, relief, and flow paths increased the explanation to 68%. The MSS data were reinterpreted integrating the DEM ‐ based landscape drainage model. The resulting classification accuracy was increased to 73%.     

Measuring the accuracy of contour interpolated digital elevation models

Digital elevation models (DEM) are becoming increasingly important as tools in hydrological research and water resources management. Since error and uncertainty are inherently associated with spatial data, a complete evaluation of a DEM is of utmost importance before it is put into subsequent analysis. The present paper offers an innovative approach for quality assessment of contour interpolated DEMs of different resolutions. Five most frequently cited interpolation methods viz., TIN with linear interpolation, Inverse Distance Weighing, Thin Plate Spline, Ordinary Kriging and TOPOGRID were selected for gridding of contours at five different resolutions i.e., 30m, 45m, 60m, 75m and 90m. In order to compare the quality of interpolated DEMs, a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of inter-polated DEMs for their vertical, horizontal and shape accuracy were carried out. It was found that different interpolation methods produced DEMs with different levels of artifacts. The analyses of vertical accuracy suggested that the variations were not pronounced in nature. However, the quantitative comparisons for horizontal and shape accuracy showed that there was a high level of disparity with significant differences among the interpolated DEMs.     

黄土丘陵沟壑第三副区水文地貌关系正确DEM的建立与评价

本文以黄土丘陵沟壑第三副区的藉河流域为研究区,利用ANUDEM软件和1:5万地形图研究了水文地貌关系正确DEM的建立方法,从派生等高线与原始数字化等高线对比等方面对建立的DEM进行了质量评价。并且与传统TIN方法建立的不同水平分辨率的DEM做了比较。结果表明:由等高线、高程点、河流和陡崖线在ANUDEM5.1中生成的DEM质量优于由等高线、高程点和地形特征点用TIN方法生成的DEM。ANUDEM建立的DEM更能精确地反映水文地貌特征。在此基础上,研究了确定集水面积阈值的方法,通过在Arc/Info环境下运行AML程序自动提取了基于水文地貌关系正确DEM的流域特征。     

Generalization of DEM for terrain analysis using a compound method

This paper reports an investigation into the generalization of a grid-based digital elevation model (DEM) for the purpose of terrain analysis. The focus is on the method of restructuring the grid-based surface elevation data to form a triangulated irregular network (TIN) that is optimized to keep the important terrain features and slope morphology with the minimum number of sample points. The critical points of the terrain surface are extracted from the DEM based on their significance, measured not only by their local relief, but also by their importance in identifying inherent geomorphological and drainage features in the DEM. A compound method is proposed by integrating the traditional point-additive and feature-point methods to construct a drainage-constrained TIN. The outcome is then compared with those derived from other selected methods including filtering, point-additive or feature-point algorithms. The results show that the compound approach is capable of taking advantage of both point-additive and feature-point algorithms to maximally keep the terrain features and to maintain RMSE at an acceptable level, while reducing the elevation data points by over 99%. The analytical result also shows that the proposed method outperforms the compared methods with better control in retaining drainage features at the same level of RMSE.     

Cartosat-1 derived DEM (CartoDEM) towards Parameter Estimation of Microwatersheds and Comparison with ALTM DEM

Hydrologic analysis of microwatersheds is essential for water resources planning at large scale. Space based input for decentralized planning at panchayat level use high resolution DEM. Drainage and slope play important role in planning and Digital Elevations Models (DEM) are widely being used for estimation of hydrologic parameters which are useful as input for hydrologic models. The estimates vary as per resolution and type of DEM. This paper evaluates the suitability of DEM derived through Cartosat-1 satellite stereo data(CartoDEM) for hydrologic parameter estimation of microwatersheds and compares the results with Airborne Laser Terrain Mapper (ALTM) based DEM data. Comparison is based on the hydrologic parameters delineated in Geographical Information System. Microwatersheds are delineated and drainage length extracted using two different cell sizes for both DEMs. Correctness Index, Figure of Merit, visual comparison, Percent within buffer and Junction comparison method, compared extracted river network. Average watershed slope is calculated using three different methods. CartoDEM derived drainage is comparable with ALTM derived drainage. There is high correlation between Carto5 and Caro10 DEMs in terms of drainage delineation and slope calculation. Average watershed slope vary as per calculation methods but average channel slope value (S3) although less, is comparable across DEMs.     

DEM Fusion using a modified k-means clustering algorithm

Digital elevation models (DEMs) are a necessary dataset for modelling the Earth’s surface; however, all DEMs contain error. Researchers can reduce this error using DEM fusion techniques since numerous DEMs can be available for a region. However, the use of a clustering algorithm in DEM fusion has not been previously reported. In this study a new DEM fusion algorithm based on a clustering approach that works on multiple DEMs to exploit consistency in the estimates as indicators of accuracy and precision is presented. The fusion approach includes slope and elevation thresholding, k-means clustering of the elevation estimates at each cell location, as well as filtering and smoothing of the fusion product. Corroboration of the input DEMs, and the products of each step of the fusion algorithm, with a higher accuracy reference DEM enabled a detailed analysis of the effectiveness of the DEM fusion algorithm. The main findings of the research were: the k-means clustering of the elevations reduced the precision which also impacted the overall accuracy of the estimates; the number of final cluster members and the standard deviation of elevations before clustering both had a strong relationship to the error in the k-means estimates.     

Efficient Priority-Flood depression filling in raster digital elevation models

Depressions in raster digital elevation models (DEM) present a challenge for extracting hydrological networks. They are commonly filled before subsequent algorithms are further applied. Among existing algorithms for filling depressions, the Priority-Flood algorithm runs the fastest. In this study, we propose an improved variant over the fastest existing sequential variant of the Priority-Flood algorithm for filling depressions in floating-point DEMs. The proposed variant introduces a series of improvements and greatly reduces the number of cells that need to be processed by the priority queue (PQ), the key data structure used in the algorithm. The proposed variant is evaluated based on statistics from 30 experiments. On average, our proposed variant reduces the number of cells processed by the PQ by around 70%. The speed-up ratios of our proposed variant over the existing fastest variant of the Priority-Flood algorithm range from 31% to 52%, with an average of 45%. The proposed variant can be used to fill depressions in large DEMs in much less time and in the parallel implementation of the Priority-Flood algorithm to further reduce the running time for processing huge DEMs that cannot be dealt with easily on single computers.     

基于多层DEM表面模型的地层结构的三维可视化

通过建立多层DEM表面模型构造三维地层结构，讨论了利用不规则三角网模型以绘制多层三维地层模型和三维剖面的技术和方法，并在微机上进行了实现。     

Evaluation of vertical accuracy of open source Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a quantitative representation of terrain and is important for Earth science and hydrological applications. DEM can be generated using photogrammetry, interferometry, ground and laser surveying and other techniques. Some of the DEMs such as ASTER, SRTM, and GTOPO 30 are freely available open source products. Each DEM contains intrinsic errors due to primary data acquisition technology and processing methodology in relation with a particular terrain and land cover type. The accuracy of these datasets is often unknown and is non-uniform within each dataset. In this study we evaluate open source DEMs (ASTER and SRTM) and their derived attributes using high postings Cartosat DEM and Survey of India (SOI) height information. It was found that representation of terrain characteristics is affected in the coarse postings DEM. The overall vertical accuracy shows RMS error of 12.62 m and 17.76 m for ASTER and SRTM DEM respectively, when compared with Cartosat DEM. The slope and drainage network delineation are also violated. The terrain morphology strongly influences the DEM accuracy. These results can be highly useful for researchers using such products in various modeling exercises.     

基于Delaunay三角网的等高线骨架提取算法

根据等高线数据直接建立不规则三角形网络模型往往会在山顶、山底、山脊和山谷等特殊地区出现＂平三角形＂,导致模型失真。文中基于Delaunay三角网,通过对＂平三角形＂的处理,提取骨架线,并结合地形特征估计其高程值。实验证明该算法能够有效地提取各种地形骨架线,对于建立逼真的数字地面模型和进行数字地形分析具有重要应用价值。     

大钝角剖分与最小二乘法约束迭代算法优化TIN模型研究

TIN模型通过从不规则分布的数据点生成的连续三角面来逼近地形表面,就表达地形信息的角度而言,TIN模型的优点是它能以不同层次的分辨率来描述地形表面。但在相关软件对离散数据生成TIN模型时会出现边缘失真现象,特别是当一些离散数据出现凹区域时,凹区域地形逼近失真现象相当明显。而在这些凹区域大多生成的三角网以钝角三角形居多,本文对离散数据TIN模型生成DEM时存在凹区域地形逼近失真现象进行了研究。提出一种大钝角剖分与最小二乘法约束迭代算法优化TIN模型。首先对原始TIN模型中大于100°小于1800的钝角三角形进行遍历记录,然后利用最小二乘法约束迭代算法进行优化,通过此算法优化后的TIN模型生成DEM数据,分别从小区域面积稳定性与剖面拟合实际地形进行了试验与精度对比,试验显示这种算法是可行的。     

An approach to extracting surface supply relationships between glaciers and lakes on the Tibetan Plateau

Surface supply relationships between glaciers and lakes are needed to analyze and understand hydrological processes at regional and global scales. However, these supply relationships still cannot be extracted efficiently by existing methods. This paper proposes an automatic and efficient approach to extracting surface supply relationships between glaciers and lakes based on meltwater flow paths. The approach includes two stages: (1) identifying direct connections between objects (i.e. glaciers and lakes) based on flow direction derived from digital terrain analysis on a gridded digital elevation model (DEM) and (2) deriving all (or user-specified) kinds of surface supply relationships based on graph search. All computation-intensive steps in this approach have been parallelized; and all steps in the proposed approach have been integrated as an automatic program. Results for the Tibetan Plateau show that given outline data for glaciers and lakes and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEM, the proposed approach can automatically derive diverse surface supply relationships under user-specified restrictions on the attributes of the supply route. The parallelization in the approach effectively improves the computing efficiency. The proposed approach could also be applied to developing a detailed fundamental dataset of supply relationships between glaciers and lakes for other region or period.     

Application of satellite — based rainfall products and SRTM DEM in hydrological modelling of Brahmaputra basin

Hydrological modelling of large river catchments is a challenging task for water resources engineers due to its complexity in collecting and handling of both spatial and non-spatial data such as rainfall, gauge discharges, and topographic parameters. In this paper an attempt has been made to use satellite-based rainfall products such as Climatic Prediction Centre (CPC)-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data for hydrological modelling of larger catchment where the limited field rainfall data is available. Digital Elevation Models (DEM) such as Global DEM (1 km resolution) and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 3-arc second (90 m resolution) DEM have been used to extract topographic parameters of the basin for hydrological modelling of the study area. Various popular distributed models have been used in this study for computing excess rainfall, direct runoff from each sub-basin, and flow routing to the main outlet. The Brahmaputra basin, which is very complex both hydraulically and hydrologically due to its shape, size, and geographical location, has been examined as study area in this study. A landuse map derived from the satellite remote sensing data in conjunction with DEM and soil textural maps have been used to derive various basin and channel characteristics such as each sub-basin and channel slope, roughness coefficients, lag-time. Percentage of residual flows computed between observed flows and simulated flows using Global and SRTM DEMs are discussed. It is found that the topographic parameters computed using SRTM DEM could improve the model accuracy in computing flood hydrograph. Need of using better resolution satellite data products and the use of high-density field discharge observations is discussed.     

About the International GIS Workshop on Antarctic King George Island

Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of a hilly–valley region are prepared using stereo images of Cartosat-1 and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) images. The procedure of ortho-image generation from Cartosat-1 stereo images and the estimation of ground features from ortho-image are elaborated in the paper. Comparison of DEMs prepared from both images is discussed in terms of the quality of ground features detection, hydrological applications and geometrical calculations. It is found that DEM prepared from Cartosat-1 images are more accurate in the valley region and hence it is better suited for hydrological applications. On the contrary, for hilly region, SRTM images produce better DEM. However, if ground control points and Rational Polynomial Coefficients can be obtained in the hilly region, more accurate DEM can be prepared using Cartosat-1 stereo images.