ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
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Articles | Volume III-2
https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-III-2-15-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-III-2-15-2016
02 Jun 2016
 | 02 Jun 2016

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF LANDFORMS USING ONTOLOGY DESIGN PATTERNS

Eric Guilbert, Bernard Moulin, and Andrés Cortés Murcia

Keywords: Digital terrain model, landform, ontology design pattern, multiple representation

Abstract. A landform is an area of a terrain with its own recognisable shape. Its definition is often qualitative and inherently vague. Hence landforms are difficult to formalise in view of their extraction from a DTM. This paper presents a two-level framework for the representation of landforms. The objective is to provide a structure where landforms can be conceptually designed according to a common model which can be implemented. It follows the principle that landforms are not defined by geometrical characteristics but by salient features perceived by people. Hence, these salient features define a skeleton around which the landform is built. The first level of our model defines general concepts forming a landform prototype while the second level provides a model for the translation of these concepts and landform extraction on a DTM. The model is still under construction and preliminary results together with current developments are also presented.