Slope-aspect color shading for parametric surfaces

The invention is a method for generating an image of a parametric surface, such as the compass direction toward which each surface element of terrain faces, commonly called the slope-aspect azimuth of the surface element. The method maximizes color contrast to permit easy discrimination of the magnitude, ranges, intervals or classes of a surface parameter while making it easy for the user to visualize the form of the surface, such as a landscape. The four pole colors of the opponent process color theory are utilized to represent intervals or classes at 90 degree angles. The color perceived as having maximum measured luminance is selected to portray the color having an azimuth of an assumed light source and the color showing minimum measured luminance portrays the diametrically opposite azimuth. The 90 degree intermediate azimuths are portrayed by unique colors of intermediate measured luminance, such as red and green. Colors between these four pole colors are used which are perceived as mixtures or combinations of their bounding colors and are arranged progressively between their bounding colors to have perceived proportional mixtures of the bounding colors which are proportional to the interval's angular distance from its bounding colors

Continuous hierarchical slope-aspect color display for parametric surfaces

A method for generating an image of a parametric surface, such as the aspect of terrain which maximizes color contrast to permit easy discrimination of the magnitude, ranges, intervals or classes of a surface parameter while making it easy for the user to visualize the form of the surface, such as a landscape. The four pole colors of the opponent process color theory are utilized to represent intervals or classes at 90 degree angles. The color perceived as having maximum measured luminance is selected to portray the color having an azimuth of an assumed light source and the color showing minimum measured luminance portrays the diametrically opposite azimuth. The 90 degree intermediate azimuths are portrayed by unique colors of intermediate measured luminance, such as red and green. Colors between these four pole colors are used which are perceived as mixtures or combinations of their bounding colors and are arranged progressively between their bounding colors to have perceived proportional mixtures of the bounding colors which are proportional to the interval's angular distance from its bounding colors

The Journey To Death: A Spatial Analysis Of Fatal Traffic Crashes In Michigan, 1969.

PhDGeographyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/190566/2/7415804.pd

Spatial Data Infrastructure Background Information

Summary In the analogue era, concern for spatial data and its distribution were tasks for mapping organisations earning a reputation for producing quality products based on their spatial characteristics, including their visualisation in printed map form to be used for many different types of problems. In contrast, from the second half of the twentieth century onwards, with the developments in computer technology, digital cartography end GIS were also developed to capture, store and analyse spatial data, replacing the tedious analogue map making process. Nowadays, there is a rapid growth of the availability of digital spatial data and a growing need to use it for all kinds of applications in the field of spatial activities. In addition, with the development of today's communication technology, it becomes possible for every user, surfing the Internet, to collect datasets from a variety of sources and different types of application. This requires translation from the original source data into the user's system, to make the received data user understandable and usable. SDI, Standards and Metadata Data transfer from one database to another, requires a spatial data standardisation [Moellering 1991, Moellering and Hogan 1997] in order to allow data providers to store their data into a commonly defined standard way that can be interpreted by the data receiver to display the data meaningful. With the growing number of users, nationally and internationally, the information about what data is available becomes an important knowledge. In many countries, governments, providers and private organisations have been building digital infra-structural networks to enable development of the countrywide spatial data and information flow. Provisions for the distribution of spatial (or geographic) data can also be viewed as an infrastructure (SDI, Spatial Data Infrastructure). Providers of such data often developed a common site in the Internet to display the type of data they have available, in order to display their products and promote its use. Sometimes, they also make the data available through these channels. In order to understand each other's descriptions also the description of the datasets were standardised: called metadatasets [Mouldering and Crane 2001]. Globally, GSDI aims at the linking of national and international SDI into a global and open process for the co-ordination, organisation management and use of spatial data and related activities. The focus of GSDI is rather on implementation of SDIs rather than on research. GSDI has published a "Cookbook" for implementing SDIs, which will be published on the Internet (http://www.gsdi.org). Using the forthcoming GSDI Cookbook may help each new SDI implementation to consider its capabilities and legal implications. A comparison of the aspects of the different implementations in different countries -that could be researched by the ICA Commission on Spatial Data Standards in future -will enhance these implementations. Hence, this article will summarise and review these aspects for the ICA Commission on Spatial Data Standards to potentially research the existing SDIs including the technological, legal, administrative, financial and organisational aspects

Designing and evaluating a health care delivery system through the use of interactive computer graphics

During the past decade an awareness has emerged for the necessity of planning the efficient delivery of regional health care services. This paper focuses on the implementation of an analytical tool to aid health planners in evaluating current and prescribing future health care facility and service locations. The analysis was performed under the rubric of an interactive computer graphic approach permitting optimal man-machine interaction. Although a considerable theoretical and methodological literature already exists in this area, the solution techniques tend to be mathematically complex and highly specific. The proposed system will place in the hands of an experienced decision-maker, the health planner, a set of easily manipulated models, supported by a set of powerful mathematical tools, which provide flexibility for changing planning objectives, results that are easily interpreted, and a relatively low cost technique.

An Initial Model Of The Computation Viewpoint For A SDI

This is a preprint of a paper from XXIII International Cartographic Conference; 4-10 August Mosow 2007.Edited by BF 18/09/09.The Commission on Spatial Data Standards of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) is working on defining formal models and technical characteristics of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). The Commission has already presented models of the Enterprise and Information Viewpoints from the ISO Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) standard (ISO/IEC 10746:1995). The Commission is now taking this further to model the Computation Viewpoint, which describes how the different services of an SDI fit together. The models should be seen as a continuing step towards the overall model of the SDI and its technical characteristics.The Commission has identified six broad groupings of services: Registry, Data, Processing, Portrayal, Application and Management. The interactions between these high-level services have been modelled using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) Component Diagrams. The detailed services have been modelled using UML Class Diagrams (Object Management Group 2005).August 200

The Academic SDI : Towards Understanding Spatial Data Infrastructures for Research and Education.

The demand for geospatial data across different disciplines and organisations has led to the development and implementation of spatial data infrastructures (SDI) and the theory and concepts behind them. An SDI is an evolving concept about facilitating and coordinating the exchange of geospatial data and services between stakeholders from different levels in the spatial data community. Universities and other research organisations typically have well-established libraries and digital catalogues for scientific literature, but catalogues for geospatial data are rare. Geospatial data is widely used in research, but geospatial data produced by researchers is seldom available, accessible and usable, e.g., for purposes of teaching or further research after completion of the project. This chapter describes the experiences of a number of SDI implementations at universities and research institutes. Based on this, the Academic SDI, an SDI for research and education, is defined and its stakeholders are described. The purpose, scope and stakeholders of the Academic SDI are described based on the formal model of an SDI developed by the International Cartographic Association (ICA) Commission on SDIs and Standards (formerly the Commission on Geoinformation Infrastructures and Standards). The results contribute to understanding the state-of-the-art in SDI implementations at universities and research institutes; how the Academic SDI differs from a ‘regular’ SDI; and which role players need to be involved in a successful SDI implementation for research and education

An initial formal model for a Spatial Data Infrastructure

This is a postprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in the International Journal of Geographical Information Science © 2008 © Taylor & Francis; International Journal of Geographical Information Science is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/The Commission on Spatial Data Standards of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) is working on defining formal models and technical characteristics of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). To date, this work has been restricted to the Enterprise and Information Viewpoints from the ISO Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) standard. The Commission has developed models for these two viewpoints. These models describe how the different parts of an SDI fit together in the viewpoints in question. These models should be seen as a contribution towards the overall model of the SDI and its technical characteristics. During the model development process, the roles of the different Actors in an SDI in the Enterprise and Information Viewpoints have also been identified in Use Case diagrams of an SDI. All the models have been developed using the Unified Modeling Language(UML)