LECTURE 15 - THE TIN MODEL
BASED ON UNIT 39 - THE TIN MODEL - OF THE 1990 NCGIA CORE CURRICULUM IN
GIS
Compiled with assistance from Thomas K. Poiker, Simon Fraser University
A.
INTRODUCTION
B.
HOW TO PICK POINTS
C.
HOW TO TRIANGULATE A TIN
D.
ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF CREATING TINS
E.
STORING TINS
F.
ALGORITHMS ON TINS
REFERENCES
DISCUSSION
AND EXAM QUESTIONS
NOTES
LECTURE 15 - THE TIN MODEL
A.
INTRODUCTION
-
the Triangulated Irregular Network model is a significant alternative to
the regular raster of a DEM, and has been adopted in numerous GISs and
automated mapping and contouring packages
-
the TIN model was developed in the early 1970's as a simple way to build
a surface from a set of irregularly spaced points
-
several prototype systems were developed in the 1970's
-
commercial systems using TIN began to appear in the 1980's as contouring
packages, some embedded in GISs
The
TIN model
-
irregularly spaced sample points can be adapted to the terrain, with more
points in areas of rough terrain and fewer in smooth terrain
-
an irregularly spaced sample is therefore more efficient at representing
a surface
-
in a TIN model, the sample points are connected by lines to form triangles
-
within each triangle the surface is usually represented by a plane
-
by using triangles we ensure that each piece of the mosaic surface will
fit with its neighboring pieces - the surface will be continuous - as each
triangle's surface would be defined by the elevations of the three corner
points
-
other possibilities exist, especially useful in finite element modeling,
involving curved surfaces and quadrilaterals
-
it might make sense to use more complex polygons as mosaic tiles in some
cases, but they can always be broken down into triangles
-
for example, if a plateau is eroded by gullies, the remaining plateau would
be a flat (planar) area bounded by an irregular, many-sided polygon. In
the TIN model it would be represented by a number of triangles, each at
the same elevation
-
for vector GISs, TINs can be seen as polygons having attributes of slope,
aspect, and area, with three vertices having elevation attributes and three
edges with slope and direction attributes
-
the TIN model is attractive because of its simplicity and economy
-
in addition, certain types of terrain are very effectively divided into
triangles with plane facets
-
this is particularly true with fluvially-eroded landscapes
-
however, other landscapes, such as glaciated ones, are not well represented
by flat triangles
-
triangles work best in areas with sharp breaks in slope, where TIN edges
can be aligned with breaks, e.g. along ridges or channels
Creating
TINs
-
despite its simplicity, creating a TIN model requires many choices:
-
how to pick sample points
-
in many cases these must be selected from some existing, dense DEM or digitized
contours
-
normally, a TIN of 100 points will do as well as a DEM of several hundred
at representing a surface
-
how to connect points into triangles
-
how to model the surface within each triangle
-
this is almost always resolved by using a plane surface
-
however, if the surface is contoured, the contours will be straight and
parallel within each triangle, but will kink sharply at triangle edges
-
consequently, some implementations of TIN represent the surface in each
triangle using a mathematical function chosen to ensure that slope changes
continuously, not abruptly, at the edges of the triangle
B.
HOW TO PICK POINTS
-
given a dense DEM or set of digitized contours, how should points be selected
so that the surface is accurately represented?
-
consider the following 3 methods for selecting from a DEM
-
all of them try to select points at significant breaks of the surface
-
such breaks are common on terrain, absent on smooth mathematical surfaces
1.
Fowler and Little algorithm
2.
VIP (Very Important Points) Algorithm
-
unlike the previous algorithm which tries to identify the major features
of the terrain, VIP works by examining the surface locally using a window
-
this is a simplification of the technique used in ESRI's ARC/INFO
Procedure
-
each point has 8 neighbors, forming 4 diametrically opposite pairs, i.e.
up and down, right and left, upper left and lower right, and upper right
and lower left
-
for each point, examine each of these pairs of neighbors in turn
-
connect the two neighbors by a straight line, and compute the perpendicular
distance of the central point from this line
diagram
-
average the four distances to obtain a measure of "significance" for the
point
-
delete points from the DEM in order of increasing significance, deleting
the least significant first
-
this continues until one of two conditions is met:
-
the number of points reaches a predetermined limit
-
the significance reaches a predetermined limit
Comments
-
because of its local nature, this method is best when the proportion of
points deleted is low
-
because of its emphasis on straight lines, and the TIN's use of planes,
it is less satisfactory on curved surfaces
3.
Drop heuristic
-
this method treats the problem as one of optimization
-
given a dense DEM, find the best subset of a predetermined number of points
such that when the points are connected by triangles filled with planes,
the TIN gives the best possible representation of the surface
Procedure
-
start with the full DEM
-
examine each point in turn
-
temporarily drop the point and modify the surrounding triangles accordingly
diagram
-
find the triangle containing the dropped point
-
measure the difference between the elevation of the point, and the elevation
of the new surface at the point
-
restore the dropped point, storing the calculated elevation difference
-
continue the process dropping each point in turn
-
when all the points have been dropped, remove the point which produced
the least difference and start the process again
Comments
-
the TIN will likely be more accurate if the differences are measured not
only for the point being dropped, but for all previously dropped points
lying within the modified triangles as well, but this would be time-consuming
-
rather than select points from the DEM, the best solution (in the sense
of producing the best possible TIN for a given number of points) may be
to locate TIN points at locations and elevations not in the original raster
-
these points may be chosen from air photographs or ground surveys
C.
HOW TO TRIANGULATE A TIN
-
having selected a set of TIN points, these will become the vertices of
the triangle network
-
there are several ways to connect vertices into triangles
-
"fat" triangles with angles close to 60 degrees are preferred since this
ensures that any point on the surface is as close as possible to a vertex
-
this is important because the surface representation is likely most accurate
at the vertices
-
consider the following two methods for building the triangles
-
in practice almost all systems use the second
1.
Distance ordering
Procedure
-
compute the distance between all pairs of points, and sort from lowest
to highest
-
connect the closest pair of points
-
connect the next closest pair if the resulting line does not cross earlier
lines
-
repeat until no further lines can be selected
-
the points will now be connected with triangles
-
this tends to produce many skinny triangles instead of the preferred "fat"
triangles
2.
Delaunay triangulation
-
by definition, 3 points form a Delaunay triangle if and only if the circle
which passes through them contains no other point
-
another way to define the Delaunay triangulation is as follows:
-
partition the map by assigning all locations to the nearest vertex
-
the boundaries created in this process form a set of polygons called Thiessen
polygons or Voronoi or Dirichlet regions
Link to
diagram
-
two vertices are connected in the Delaunay triangulation if their Thiessen
polygons share an edge
-
this method produces the preferred fat triangles
-
the boundary edges on the Delaunay network form the Convex Hull, which
is the smallest polygon to contain all of the vertices
Procedure
-
there are several techniques for building the triangles:
1. since the convex hull will always be part of the Delaunay network
-
start with these edges and work inwards until the network is complete
2. connect the closest pair which by definition must be a Delaunay edge
-
search for a third point such that no other point falls in the circle through
them
-
continue working outward from these edges for the next closest point
Problems
-
Delaunay triangles are not hierarchical
-
they cannot be aggregated to form bigger triangles
-
if they are divided into smaller triangles, the results tend to be poorly
shaped (not "fat")
D.
ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF CREATING TINS
Break
lines
-
methods presented above concentrate on finding TIN vertices, then connecting
them with triangles
-
a major advantage of TINs is their ability to capture breaks of slope,
if edges can be aligned with known ridges or channels
-
this requires a different approach, where "breaklines" are incorporated
into the triangle network as edges after the points have been triangulated
-
the result is generally non-Delaunay, i.e. an edge need not be an edge
in the Delaunay network of the vertices
-
this approach is now incorporated into some TIN software, e.g. the ARC/INFO
TIN module
TINs
from contours
-
contours are a common source of digital elevation data
-
rather than convert from contours to a grid (DEM) and then to a TIN, it
is more direct to obtain the TIN from contours directly
-
a TIN can be created by selecting points from the digitized contour lines
-
selection may create a triangle with three vertices on the same contour
(at the same elevation)
-
such a "flat triangle" has no defined aspect, causes problems in modeling
runoff
-
several ways of avoiding this problem have been devised
E.
STORING TINS
-
there are basically two ways of storing triangulated networks:
1. Triangle by triangle
2. Points and their neighbors
Link
to diagram
1.
Triangle by triangle
-
in this case, a record usually contains:
-
a reference number for the triangle
-
the x,y,z-coordinates of the three vertices
-
the reference numbers of the three neighboring triangles
-
since a vertex participates in, on the average, six triangles, repetition
of coordinates can be avoided by creating a separate vertex file and referencing
them in the triangle files
2.
Points and their neighbors
-
the alternative is to store for every vertex:
-
an identification number
-
the xyz coordinates
-
references (pointers) to the neighboring vertices in clockwise or counter-clockwise
order
-
this structure was the original TIN structure (Peucker et al, 1978)
Comparison
of the two structures
-
both structures are necessary, depending on the purpose
-
slope analysis needs the first
-
contouring and other traversing procedures work best with the second
-
as long as one can be extracted from the other in close to linear time
(i.e., without an exhaustive search per point), either will do
-
the second generally needs less storage space
-
however, the savings within different TIN structures is minor compared
to the reduction of points from the regular grid to the triangular network
F.
ALGORITHMS ON TINS
Slope
and aspect
-
compared to the DEM, it is simple to find slope and aspect at some location
using a TIN - we simply find the slope and aspect attributes of the containing
triangle
Contouring
Finding
Drainage Networks
REFERENCES
Chen, Z., and J.A. Guevara, 1987. "Systematic selection of very important
points (VIP) from digital terrain models for construction triangular irregular
networks," Proceedings, AutoCarto 8, ASPRS/ACSM, Falls Church, VA,
pp. 50-56. A description of ESRI's VIP approach to constructing a TIN.
Fowler, R.J., and J.J. Little, 1979. "Automatic extraction of irregular
network digital terrain models," Computer Graphics 13:199-207.
Heller, M., 1986. "Triangulation and Interpolation of Surfaces," in
R. Sieber and K. Brassel (eds), A Selected Bibliography on Spatial Data
Handling: Data Structures, Generalization and Three-Dimensional Mapping,
Geo- Processing Series, vol 6, Department of Geography, University of Zurich,
pp 36 - 45. A good overview with literature, mainly on triangulation.
Mark, D. M., 1975. "Computer Analysis of Topography: A Comparison of
Terrain Storage Methods," Geografisker Annaler 57A:179-188. A quantitative
comparison of regular grids and triangulated networks.
Mark, D.M., 1979. "Phenomenon-Based Data-Structuring and Digital Terrain
Modelling," Geo-Processing 1:27-36. A very interesting conceptual
article proposing a phenomenon-based approach to data structuring. Such
an approach has to involve expert knowledge of the phenomenon.
Peucker, T.K., R.J. Fowler, J.J. Little and D.M. Mark, 1978. "The Triangulated
Irregular Network," Proceedings, American Society of Photogrammetry:
Digital Terrain Models (DTM) Symposium, St. Louis, Missouri, May 9-11,
1978, pp 516-540. The basic description of the original TIN project.
DISCUSSION
AND EXAM QUESTIONS
1. Argue the differences between the regular grid and the triangular
net approaches. Apply the argument to the computation of slope, contouring
and visibility.
2. Mark's article in 1979 argued that the TIN model was more appropriate
to the nature of certain geographical phenomena. Do you agree? For what
types of landforms is TIN most and least appropriate?
3. Discuss the various methods proposed for selecting TIN vertices from
a DEM, and their relative strengths and weaknesses.
4. Describe how information on directions of flow can be obtained from
a TIN, and the nature of the extracted stream network. How does this compare
to networks derived from DEMs?