Sky models are quantitative representations of natural luminance of the sky under various atmospheric conditions. They have been used extensively in studies of architectural design for nearly a century, and more recently for rendering objects in the field of computer graphics. The objectives of this paper are to (1) describe sky models, (2) demonstrate how map designers can render terrain under various sky models in a typical geographic information system (GIS), (3) illustrate potential enhancements to terrain renderings using sky models, and (4) discuss how sky models, with their well-established standards from a different discipline, might contribute to a virtual geographic environment (VGE).
Current GIS hill-shading tools use the Lambertian assumption which can be related to a simple point light source at an infinite distance to render terrain. General sky models allow the map designer to choose from a gamut of sky models standardized by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE). We present a computer application that allows the map designer to select a general sky model and to use existing GIS tools to illuminate any terrain under that model. The application determines the orientations and weights of many discrete point light sources that, in the aggregate, approximate the illumination provided by the chosen sky model. We discuss specific enhancements to terrains that are shaded and shadowed with these general sky models, including additional detail of secondary landforms with soft shadows and more realistic shading contrasts. We also illustrate how non-directional illumination models result in renderings that lack the perceptual relief effect. Additionally, we argue that this process of creating hill-shaded visualizations of terrain with sky models shows parallels to other geo-simulations, and that basing such work on standards from the computer graphics industry shows potential for its use in VGE. 相似文献
本文利用WRF（Weather Research and Forecasting）模式耦合Noah陆面过程模式,对比研究了使用不同精度陆面资料:WRF默认陆面资料、中国1 km分辨率数字高程模型数据集、2006年MODIS（MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer）土地利用和植被覆盖度资料,WRF模式对兰州地区冬季气象场模拟结果的差异。结果表明,近地面气温对陆面资料的精度非常敏感,而风场对陆面资料的精度不敏感,WRF模式对气温的模拟效果好于对风场模拟。采用高精度且时效性好的陆面资料后,WRF模拟的近地面气温准确率提高了15.8%,模拟的夜间气温改进幅度较白天大。陆面资料可影响整个边界层温度场分布,准确的陆面资料对提高WRF模式模拟近地面乃至整个边界层气象场至关重要。尽管风速模拟误差较大,但总体上WRF模式能较准确地模拟出研究区的风场演变特征。使用新的陆面资料后WRF模拟的风速误差略有减小,风向误差略有增加。干旱半干旱区冬季数值模拟需要注意土壤湿度初值和模式初始积分时刻对模拟结果的影响。 相似文献
