Determination of 3D Displacements of Drainage Networks Extracted from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) Using Linear-Based Methods

Antonio Tomás Mozas-Calvache,Manuel Antonio Ureña-Cámara,Francisco Javier Ariza-López

doi:10.3390/ijgi6080234

Antonio Tomás Mozas-Calvache, Manuel Antonio Ureña-Cámara + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi6080234

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Abstract

This study describes a new method developed to determine the 3D positional displacements of the drainage networks extracted from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). The proposed method establishes several stages for data preparation. The displacements are derived by means of linestring-based assessment methods, which can be applied in 2D and 3D. Also, we propose the use of several tools (maps, aggregation of results, new indices, etc.) in order to obtain a wider assessment of positional accuracy, or a time change analysis. This approach supposes a novelty in drainage network studies both in the application of line-based methods and its expansion to 3D data. The method has been tested using a sample of channels extracted from DEMs of two different dates of a zone of about 600 square kilometers using as reference linestrings those extracted from another more recent DEM which had higher spatial accuracy and higher spatial resolution. The results have demonstrated the viability of the method proposed because of the obtaining of 3D displacement vectors, which showed the general and particular behavior of the channels selected.

Highlights

The current availability of cartographic products related to height data such as Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) is achieving global coverage thanks to the launch of new acquisition systems such as those based on remote sensing
All these aspects are causing a great availability of these digital products from several sources and dates, which allow the implementation of comparative studies of DEMs and other derived products
Among other advantages of using these methods, we can highlight their easy implementation in 3D with respect to those based on buffers, the obtaining of maximum (HDM3D) and mean values (VIM3D) in order to characterize the displacements and the determination of displacement vectors which are very useful in determining the directions of the displacement

Summary

Introduction

The current availability of cartographic products related to height data such as Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) is achieving global coverage thanks to the launch of new acquisition systems such as those based on remote sensing. Some of the possible applications are the determination of the changes of drainage channels obtained from several sources, including the positional assessment of them (using as control or reference dataset a more accurate source), the study of the evolution of drainage networks using multi-temporal datasets of lines, etc To test this methodology, we have used two datasets of lines which correspond to drainage channels extracted from two DEMs produced and shared on the Internet by an environmental institution in Spain and dated in 1977 and 2010. In the case of using a 2D vector source as reference database (Option 2 in Figure 1), the obtaining of height values can be based on a bilinear interpolation using an auxiliary more accurate reference DEM This first stage includes those procedures needed for obtaining those datasets of linestrings which correspond to the drainage channels to be assessed (LIN1) and to assess (CTR1). In Europe there is a structured hydrological feature coding system called Catchment Characterization and Monitoring (CCM) [43] which can be used for selecting the channels

Selection and Preparation of the Linestrings

Application of the Positional Assessment Methods

Analysis of the Results

Application

Findings

Results and Discussion