Higher isn't Necessarily Better: Visibility Algorithms and Experiments | W. Randolph Franklin, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY USA

Wm Randolph Franklin and Clark Ray. Higher isn't necessarily better: visibility algorithms and experiments. In Thomas C. Waugh and Richard G. Healey, editors, Advances in GIS Research: Sixth International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling, 751–770. Edinburgh, 5–9 Sept 1994. The International Geographical Union's Commission on Geographical Information Systems and The Association for Geographic Information, Taylor & Francis.
[full text] [BibTeX▼]

@inproceedings{fr-hinbv-94,
    author = "Franklin, Wm Randolph and Ray, Clark",
    editor = "Waugh, Thomas C. and Healey, Richard G.",
    title = "Higher isn't Necessarily Better: Visibility Algorithms and Experiments",
    booktitle = "Advances in {GIS} Research: Sixth International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling",
    organization = "The International Geographical Union's Commission on Geographical Information Systems and The Association for Geographic Information",
    year = "1994",
    month = "5--9 Sept",
    address = "Edinburgh",
    publisher = "Taylor \\& Francis",
    pages = "751--770",
    mykey = "visviewshedsiting",
    href = "\bibhref{84-edinburgh-sdh94-higher-not-better}"
}

Abstract

We describe several fast programs to compute viewsheds and weighted visibility indices for observation points in a raster terrain. These pro grams explore various tradeoffs between speed and accuracy. We have analyzed many cells of data; there is no strong correlation between a point's elevation and its weighted visibility index. However, the, very few, high visibility points tend to characterize features of the terrain. This work can form a basis for automatically locating observers jointly to cover a terrain region of interest.

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