Daniel Tracy

2010

• Zhongyi Xie, W. Randolph Franklin, and Dan Tracy. Slope preserving lossy terrain compression. In 18th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (ACM SIGSPATIAL GIS 2010). San Jose, CA, USA, 2–5 Nov 2010. (PhD Dissertation Showcase).
  [details] [full text] [poster] [BibTeX▼]

  @inproceedings{xie-acmgis-2010,
      author = "Xie, Zhongyi and Franklin, W. Randolph and Tracy, Dan",
      title = "Slope Preserving Lossy Terrain Compression",
      booktitle = "18th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (ACM SIGSPATIAL GIS 2010)",
      year = "2010",
      month = "2--5 Nov",
      address = "San Jose, CA, USA",
      href = "\bibhrefpp{140-acmgis2010-xie}{140-acmgis2010-xie-poster.pdf}",
      customlinkposter = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/140-acmgis2010-xie-poster.pdf",
      mykey = "tracy xie terrain",
      note = "(PhD Dissertation Showcase)"
  }
  

2009

• Daniel M. Tracy. Path Planning and Slope Representation on Compressed Terrain. PhD thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2009.
  [details] [full text] [BibTeX▼]

  @phdthesis{tracy-phd,
      author = "Tracy, Daniel M.",
      title = "Path Planning and Slope Representation on Compressed Terrain",
      school = "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute",
      mykey = "odetlap theses tracy",
      year = "2009"
  }
  

2008

• Jared Stookey, Zhongyi Xie, Barbara Cutler, W. Randolph Franklin, Daniel M. Tracy, and Marcus V.A. Andrade. Parallel ODETLAP for terrain compression and reconstruction. In Walid G. Aref, editor, 16th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (ACM GIS 2008). 5–7 Nov 2008. URL: http://acmgis08.cs.umn.edu/.
  [abstract▼] [details] [full text] [slides] [poster] [BibTeX▼]

  We introduce a parallel approximation of an Over-determined Laplacian Partial Differential Equation solver (ODETLAP) applied to the compression and restoration of terrain data used for Geographical Information Systems (GIS). ODETLAP can be used to reconstruct a compressed elevation map, or to generate a dense regular grid from airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) point cloud data. With previous methods, the time to execute ODETLAP does not scale well with the size of the input elevation map, resulting in running times that are prohibitively long for large data sets. Our algorithm divides the data set into patches, runs ODETLAP on each patch, and then merges the patches together. This method gives two distinct speed improvements. First, we provide scalability by reducing the complexity such that the execution time grows almost linearly with the size of the input, even when run on a single processor. Second, we are able to calculate ODETLAP on the patches concurrently in a parallel or distributed environment. Our new patchbased implementation takes 2 seconds to run ODETLAP on an 800 × 800 elevation map using 128 processors, while the original version of ODETLAP takes nearly 10 minutes on a single processor (271 times longer). We demonstrate the effectiveness of the new algorithm by running it on data sets as large as 16000 × 16000 on a cluster of computers. We also discuss our preliminary results from running on an IBM Blue Gene/L system with 32,768 processors.

  @inproceedings{stookey-acmgis-2008,
      author = "Stookey, Jared and Xie, Zhongyi and Cutler, Barbara and Franklin, W. Randolph and Tracy, Daniel M. and Andrade, Marcus V.A.",
      editor = "Aref, Walid G.",
      title = "Parallel {ODETLAP} for terrain compression and reconstruction",
      booktitle = "16th {ACM SIGSPATIAL} International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems ({ACM GIS} 2008)",
      year = "2008",
      location = "Irvine CA",
      month = "5--7 Nov",
      href = "\bibhrefptp{123-acmgis2008-stookey}{123-acmgis2008-stookey-talk.ppt}{123-acmgis2008-stookey-poster.ppt}",
      url = "http://acmgis08.cs.umn.edu/",
      customlinkslides = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/123-acmgis2008-stookey-talkb.pdf",
      customlinkposter = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/123-acmgis2008-stookey-poster.ppt",
      mykey = "odetlap tracy marcus xie stuetzle parallel"
  }
  

• Daniel M. Tracy, W. Randolph Franklin, Barbara Cutler, Franklin T. Luk, Marcus Andrade, and Jared Stookey. Path planning on a compressed terrain. In Walid G. Aref and others, editors, 16th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (ACM GIS 2008). Irvine CA, 5–7 Nov 2008. (poster and fast forward presentation). URL: http://acmgis08.cs.umn.edu/.
  [details] [full text] [slides] [poster] [BibTeX▼]

  @inproceedings{tracy-acmgis-2008,
      author = "Tracy, Daniel M. and Franklin, W. Randolph and Cutler, Barbara and Luk, Franklin T. and Andrade, Marcus and Stookey, Jared",
      editor = "Aref, Walid G. and others",
      title = "Path Planning on a Compressed Terrain",
      booktitle = "16th {ACM SIGSPATIAL} International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems ({ACM GIS} 2008)",
      year = "2008",
      address = "Irvine CA",
      month = "5--7 Nov",
      customlinkslides = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/124-acmgis2008-tracy-talk.pdf",
      customlinkposter = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/124-acmgis2008-tracy-poster.pdf",
      mykey = "pathplan marcus tracy",
      href = "\bibhrefpttpp{124-acmgis2008-tracy}",
      note = "(poster and fast forward presentation)",
      url = "http://acmgis08.cs.umn.edu/"
  }
  

• Daniel M. Tracy, W Randolph Franklin, Barb Cutler, Franklin Luk, Marcus Andrade, and Jared Stookey. Path planning on complex terrain. In 18th Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry (FWCG 2008). Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY USA, 31 Oct – 1 Nov 2008. (extended abstract, talk and poster).
  [details] [full text] [slides] [poster] [BibTeX▼]

  @inproceedings{tracy-fwcg-2008,
      author = "Tracy, Daniel M. and Franklin, W Randolph and Cutler, Barb and Luk, Franklin and Andrade, Marcus and Stookey, Jared",
      title = "Path Planning on Complex Terrain",
      booktitle = "18th Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry ({FWCG} 2008)",
      month = "31 Oct -- 1 Nov",
      year = "2008",
      note = "(extended abstract, talk and poster)",
      address = "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY USA",
      customlinkslides = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/128-fwcg2008-tracy-talk.ppt",
      customlinkposter = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/128-fwcg2008-tracy-poster.ppt",
      mykey = "pathplan marcus tracy",
      href = "\bibhrefatp{128-fwcg2008-tracy}{128-fwcg2008-tracy-talk.ppt}{128-fwcg2008-tracy-poster.ppt}"
  }
  

• Zhongyi Xie, Marcus A. Andrade, W Randolph Franklin, Barbara Cutler, Metin Inanc, Jonathan Muckell, and Daniel M. Tracy. Progressive transmission of lossily compressed terrain. In CLEI 2008 Conferencia Latinoamericana de Informática. Santa Fe, Argentina, 8–12 Sep 2008.
  [details] [full text] [BibTeX▼]

  @inproceedings{andrade-prog-trans-2008,
      author = "Xie, Zhongyi and Andrade, Marcus A. and Franklin, W Randolph and Cutler, Barbara and Inanc, Metin and Muckell, Jonathan and Tracy, Daniel M.",
      title = "Progressive Transmission of Lossily Compressed Terrain",
      booktitle = "{CLEI 2008} Conferencia Latinoamericana de Informática",
      year = "2008",
      address = "Santa Fe, Argentina",
      month = "8--12 Sep",
      href = "\bibhref{127-andrade-prog-trans-2008}",
      mykey = "marcus tracy inanc muckell xie terrain"
  }
  

• Jonathan Muckell, Marcus Andrade, W. Randolph Franklin, Barbara Cutler, Metin Inanc, Zhongyi Xie, and Daniel M. Tracy. Hydrology-aware constrained triangulation of terrain data. (unpublished), Apr 2008.
  [details] [full text] [BibTeX▼]

  @unpublished{muckell-HydroTIN-2008,
      author = "Muckell, Jonathan and Andrade, Marcus and Franklin, W. Randolph and Cutler, Barbara and Inanc, Metin and Xie, Zhongyi and Tracy, Daniel M.",
      title = "Hydrology-Aware Constrained Triangulation of Terrain Data",
      mykey = "inanc marcus muckell xie tracy hydro",
      href = "\bibhref{120-muckell-HydroTIN-2008}",
      note = "(unpublished)",
      month = "Apr",
      year = "2008"
  }
  

• Jonathan Muckell, Marcus Andrade, W. Randolph Franklin, Barbara Cutler, Metin Inanc, Zhongyi Xie, and Daniel M. Tracy. Evaluating hydrology preservation of simplified terrain representations. (unpublished), Apr 2008.
  [details] [full text] [BibTeX▼]

  @unpublished{muckell-HydroMetric-ODETLAP-2008,
      author = "Muckell, Jonathan and Andrade, Marcus and Franklin, W. Randolph and Cutler, Barbara and Inanc, Metin and Xie, Zhongyi and Tracy, Daniel M.",
      title = "Evaluating Hydrology Preservation of Simplified Terrain Representations",
      href = "\bibhref{121-muckell-HydroMetric-ODETLAP-2008}",
      note = "(unpublished)",
      month = "Apr",
      mykey = "odetlap tracy inanc marcus muckell xie hydro",
      year = "2008"
  }
  

• W. Randolph Franklin, Daniel M. Tracy, Marcus Andrade, Jonathan Muckell, Metin Inanc, Zhongyi Xie, and Barbara Cutler. Slope accuracy and path planning on compressed terrain. In Symposium on Spatial Data Handling. Montpellier FR, June 2008.
  [details] [full text] [BibTeX▼]

  @inproceedings{wrf-sdh-2008,
      author = "Franklin, W. Randolph and Tracy, Daniel M. and Andrade, Marcus and Muckell, Jonathan and Inanc, Metin and Xie, Zhongyi and Cutler, Barbara",
      title = "Slope Accuracy and Path Planning on Compressed Terrain",
      booktitle = "Symposium on Spatial Data Handling",
      year = "2008",
      month = "June",
      address = "Montpellier FR",
      mykey = "tracy inanc marcus muckell xie pathplan terrain",
      href = "\bibhref{119-sdh08-slope}"
  }
  

2007

• Zhongyi Xie, Marcus A. Andrade, W. Randolph Franklin, Barbara Cutler, Metin Inanc, Daniel M. Tracy, and Jonathan Muckell. Approximating terrain with over-determined Laplacian PDEs. In 17th Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry. IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Hawthorne NY, 2–3 Nov 2007. (poster session, no formal proceedings).
  [details] [full text] [poster] [BibTeX▼]

  @inproceedings{xie-fwcg-2007,
      author = "Xie, Zhongyi and Andrade, Marcus A. and Franklin, W. Randolph and Cutler, Barbara and Inanc, Metin and Tracy, Daniel M. and Muckell, Jonathan",
      title = "Approximating terrain with over-determined {Laplacian} {PDEs}",
      booktitle = "17th Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry",
      month = "2--3 Nov",
      mykey = "tracy inanc marcus xie muckell odetlap",
      year = "2007",
      note = "(poster session, no formal proceedings)",
      address = "IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Hawthorne NY",
      customlinkposter = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/117-fwcg07-xie-poster.ppt",
      href = "\bibhrefap{117-fwcg07-xie-abs}{117-fwcg07-xie-poster.ppt}"
  }
  

• Jonathan Muckell, Marcus Andrade, W. Randolph Franklin, Barbara Cutler, Metin Inanc, Zhongyi Xie, and Daniel M. Tracy. Drainage network and watershed reconstruction on simplified terrain. In 17th Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry. IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Hawthorne NY, 2–3 Nov 2007. poster session, no formal proceedings.
  [details] [full text] [slides] [BibTeX▼]

  @inproceedings{muckell-fwcg-2007,
      author = "Muckell, Jonathan and Andrade, Marcus and Franklin, W. Randolph and Cutler, Barbara and Inanc, Metin and Xie, Zhongyi and Tracy, Daniel M.",
      title = "Drainage network and watershed reconstruction on simplified terrain",
      booktitle = "17th Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry",
      month = "2--3 Nov",
      year = "2007",
      note = "poster session, no formal proceedings",
      address = "IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Hawthorne NY",
      customlinkslides = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/116-fwcg07-muckell-poster.ppt",
      mykey = "tracy marcus inanc muckell xie hydro",
      href = "\bibhrefap{116-fwcg07-muckell-abs}{116-fwcg07-muckell-poster.ppt}"
  }
  

• W Randolph Franklin, Metin Inanc, Zhongyi Xie, Daniel M. Tracy, Barbara Cutler, Marcus V A Andrade, and Franklin Luk. Smugglers and border guards – the GeoStar project at RPI. In 15th ACM International Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (ACM GIS 2007). Seattle, WA, USA, Nov 2007.
  [abstract▼] [details] [full text] [slides] [BibTeX▼]

  We present the GeoStar project at RPI, which researches various terrain (i.e., elevation) representations and operations thereon. This work is motivated by the large amounts of hi-res data now available. The purpose of each representation is to lossily compress terrain while maintaining important properties. Our ODETLAP representation generalizes a Laplacian partial differential equation by using two inconsistent equations for each known point in the grid, as well as one equation for each unknown point. The surface is reconstructed from a carefully chosen small set of known points. Our second representation segments the terrain intoa set of regions, each of which is simply described. Our third representation has the most long term potential: scooping, which forms the terrain by emulating surface water erosion. Siting hundreds of observers, such as border guards, so that their viewsheds jointly cover the maximum terrain is our first operation. This process allows both observer and target to be above the local terrain, and the observer to have a finite radius of interest. Planning a path so that a smuggler may get from point A to point B while maximally avoiding the border guards is our second operation. The path metric includes path length, distance traveled uphill,and amount of time visible to a guard. The quality of our representations is determined, not only by their RMS elevation error, but by how accurately they support these operations.

  @inproceedings{acmgis07,
      author = "Franklin, W Randolph and Inanc, Metin and Xie, Zhongyi and Tracy, Daniel M. and Cutler, Barbara and Andrade, Marcus V A and Luk, Franklin",
      title = "Smugglers and border guards -- the {GeoStar} project at {RPI}",
      booktitle = "15th {ACM} International Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems {(ACM GIS 2007)}",
      year = "2007",
      address = "Seattle, WA, USA",
      month = "Nov",
      customlinkslides = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/115-seattle07-acmgis-smugglers-talk.ppt",
      mykey = "pathplan visviewshedsiting marcus tracy inanc xie",
      href = "\bibhrefpt{115-seattle07-acmgis-smugglers}{115-seattle07-acmgis-smugglers-talk.ppt}"
  }
  

• Daniel M. Tracy, W. Randolph Franklin, Barbara Cutler, Marcus A Andrade, Franklin T Luk, Metin Inanc, and Zhongyi Xie. Multiple observer siting and path planning on lossily compressed terrain. In Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 6697 Advanced Signal Processing Algorithms, Architectures, and Implementations XVII. San Diego CA, 27 August 2007. International Society for Optical Engineering. paper 6697-16.
  [abstract▼] [details] [full text] [BibTeX▼]

  We examine a smugglers and border guards scenario. We place observers on a terrain so as to optimize their visible coverage area. Then we compute a path that a smuggler would take so as to avoid detection, while also minimizing the path length. We also examine how our results are affected by using a lossy representation of the terrain instead. We propose three new application-specific error metrics for evaluating terrain compression. Our target terrain applications are the optimal placement of observers on a landscape and the navigation through the terrain by smugglers. Instead of using standard metrics such as average or maximum elevation error, we seek to optimize our compression on the specific real-world application of smugglers and border guards.

  @inproceedings{dt-wrf-spie-2007,
      author = "Tracy, Daniel M. and Franklin, W. Randolph and Cutler, Barbara and Andrade, Marcus A and Luk, Franklin T and Inanc, Metin and Xie, Zhongyi",
      title = "Multiple observer siting and path planning on lossily compressed terrain",
      booktitle = "Proceedings of {SPIE} Vol. 6697 Advanced Signal Processing Algorithms, Architectures, and Implementations {XVII}",
      year = "2007",
      month = "27 August",
      organization = "International Society for Optical Engineering",
      address = "San Diego CA",
      note = "paper 6697-16",
      mykey = "inanc tracy marcus xie pathplan visviewshedsiting",
      href = "\bibhref{114-spie07-tracy}"
  }
  

2006

• Daniel M. Tracy, W Randolph Franklin, and Franklin Luk. Multiple observer siting on a compressed terrain (extended abstract). In 16th Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry. Smith College, Northampton MA, 10-11 Nov 2006.
  [details] [full text] [slides] [BibTeX▼]

  @inproceedings{tracy-fwcg-2006,
      author = "Tracy, Daniel M. and Franklin, W Randolph and Luk, Franklin",
      title = "Multiple Observer Siting on a Compressed Terrain (extended abstract)",
      booktitle = "16th Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry",
      year = "2006",
      month = "10-11 Nov",
      address = "Smith College, Northampton MA",
      customlinkslides = "https://wrfranklin.org/p/107-smith-fwcg06-multiple-tracy-poster.jpg",
      href = "\bibhrefap{107-smith-fwcg06-multiple-tracy-abs}{107-smith-fwcg06-multiple-tracy-poster.jpg}",
      mykey = "tracy visviewshedsiting"
  }