Towards a Common Framework for the Identification of Landforms on Terrain Models

Abstract

A landform is a physical feature of the terrain with its own recognisable shape. Its definition is often qualitative and inherently vague. Hence, landforms are difficult to formalise in a logical model that can be implemented. We propose for that purpose a framework where these qualitative and vague definitions are transformed successively during different phases to yield an implementable data structure. Our main consideration is that landforms are characterised by salient elements as perceived by users. Hence, a common prototype based on an object-oriented approach is defined that shall apply to all landforms. This framework shall facilitate the definition of conceptual models for other landforms and relies on the use of ontology design patterns to express common elements and structures. The model is illustrated on examples from the literature, showing that existing works undertaken separately can be developed under a common framework.

Improving Ecotope Segmentation by Combining Topographic and Spectral Data

“…On the other hand, GEOBIA was also used to delineate physiotopes, which can then be overlaid with land cover polygons to derive meaningful spatial regions [18] or directly used to map aquatic habitats [27]. The delineation of physiotopes is a difficult task to assess because their definition depends on the purpose of the study [28]. Different GEOBIA methods have therefore been developed, based on curvature indices [18,29], decision rules using elevation and slope [30], network properties [28] or a large set (70) of indices including slope, aspect and various texture indices [27].…”

“…The delineation of physiotopes is a difficult task to assess because their definition depends on the purpose of the study [28]. Different GEOBIA methods have therefore been developed, based on curvature indices [18,29], decision rules using elevation and slope [30], network properties [28] or a large set (70) of indices including slope, aspect and various texture indices [27]. However, the methods designed for terrestrial landscapes focused on global to regional scales, where the relative position (ridge, side or valley) plays a major role for the classification and do not directly take the orientation of the slope into account.…”

Object-Core Oriented Data Modelling for Tracking of Behaviors of Urban Heat Islands

“…Core is inside of the zone, which represents an extent of a set of the spatial contiguous of the statistical temperatures. study proposed a core region to describe complex landform of canyons, which is one of the most representative characteristics for canyons (Guilbert and Moulin 2017). With the similar approach, a zone can have a representative core region where absolute temperatures within the core region are equal or higher than the representative temperature.…”

A Conceptual Model for Delineating Land Management Units (LMUs) Using Geographical Object-Based Image Analysis

“…They are "vague" in a philosophical sense [48], which means that either the boundary condition is not actually distinct, or the class that describes it may vary with perception. In order to provide a formal description that applies to different contexts and to allow the model to be used by people who are not ontology experts, landform prototypes should be of use [46]. Landform prototypes that reflect the central tendency of features or properties of "real" features are used in this study.…”

“…Even though the idea to "abuse"' GEOBIA for landform classification is interesting, it is not very common. Research papers by some authors [43][44][45][46] are the few of the representatives. In this study, objects that represent uniform geometry construct the building blocks of a multi-level object-based classification of hierarchical landscape classes that result in final LMUs.…”