Non-Linear Contour-to-Grid Digital Interpolation

Published

October 10, 1986

Author(s)

Betty Mandel, Christoph J. Witzgall, Javier Bernal

Abstract

A technical approach to the task of performing a contour to grid conversion using nonlinear interpolation has been studied. The approach consists of reconstructing a terrain surface from the digitized contour lines on a map. The approximating surface is defined in terms of a partition of the region into irregular triangles obtained by a Voronoi method. The vertices of the triangles are selected by sampling a large set of digitized contour data with a tolerance band technique. The result is a smooth synthetic surface with which the elevation of any given point can be calculated. Therefore, grids of any given dimensions can be generated.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the Conference on Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy

Conference Location

, US

Conference Title

Department of Defense Conference on Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

CONTOURS, CONVERSION, GRIDS, MAPPING(TRANSFORMATIONS), ELEVATION, INTERPOLATION, METHODOLOGY, NONLINEAR SYSTEMS, SAMPLING, DIGITAL SYSTEMS, SURFACES, TERRAIN, TRIANGLES

Citation

Mandel, B. , Witzgall, C. and Bernal, J. (1986), Non-Linear Contour-to-Grid Digital Interpolation, Proceedings of the Conference on Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy, , US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=926888 (Accessed October 25, 2025)