Terrain Complexity Index and Its Derivation from DEMs
Wang Lei, Xuejun Liu · Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation · 2004
Based on an overall analysis of the methodology and technique for the description of terrain information representation, the TCI(Terrain Complexity Index), a new concept and quantification method for terrain complexity is proposed. TCI is a comprehensive index revealing the complexity and variation of true surface, which could be extracted via a calculation of an angle between two conjunct surfaces from a 3 by 3 cells based analysis window. Experiments shows that the TCI matrix derived from 1∶50 000 map scale DEMs could effectively represent the variation of the DEM based model surface. This research provides a good basis for constructing the conception system, as well as investigating the spatial distribution pattern of terrain information content.