A Simplification Method of Terrain Modeling Based on Spatial-autocorrelation

To solve the problem of three-dimensional terrain simplification in large-scale which was based on digital elevation model (DEM) data, a terrain simplified method based on the theory of spatial autocorrelation was proposed. The slope, a key factor for expressing the terrain features, has been taken into account in this method. According to principle of regional similarities in geomorphology is related to DEM data correlation, a cluster analysis was performed on the terrain data to get the thresholds distinguish terrain features. On the basis, the gradient-based distance-weighted method was adopted to fit elevation values of the center point and generated a new terrain mesh. The results of experiments show that the method to some extent reduces the size of the data, while maintaining good terrain features and curvature characteristic.