Hierarchical Models for the Definition and Extraction of Terrain Features
Martin Brändli · 2020
Many spatial processes and phenomena of the physical environment depend on terrain relief either directly or indirectly. In the digital domain, the Earth’s surface is commonly modelled by way of digital terrain models (DTMs). In the past few years, digital terrain modelling has gradually evolved into a major constituent of geographical information systems technology. This chapter outlines adequate conceptual data models with respect to the different tasks that exist in digital terrain modelling. The main objective is to find models that can represent the real world on a conceptual level (i.e. conceptual models). Various domains have contributed to the field of conceptual modelling: artificial intelligence, programming languages, and database research. Recently linguists and cognitive psychologists have also made important contributions. The general classes of the object-oriented model are nodes and links which are formed by an association of different nodes. One level higher is the network, consisting of links and nodes.