Automatic Scree Representation in 2D Maps

Project mandated by the Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo.

Goals

Development of algorithms for the automatic generation of scree representations for topographic Swiss-style maps.

Results

Scree Painter, a user-friendly software application for the automatic generation of scree patterns for topographic maps. Scree Painter fills polygons with scree stones for Swiss-style maps of mountainous areas.

The method is based on auxiliary grid structures to automatically detect cartographic conflicts between scree stones and other map elements. A terrain model and a manually produced shaded relief are used to steer the size of the stones, as well as their density and arrangement in flow lines. Flow lines are determined based on terrain curvature and a grayscale mask specifying the density of flow lines.

scree_large

Scree generated with the developed algorithm combined with other elements of the original swisstopo map.

Publications

Gilgen, J. and Jenny, B. (s.d.) Digital rock and scree drawing in vector and raster mode. Proceedings of the 7th ICA Mountain Cartography Workshop, 1–5 Sept. 2010, Borsa, Romania [accepted for publication].

Jenny, B., Hutzler, E. and Hurni, L. (2010). Scree representation on topographic maps. The Cartographic Journal, 47-2, p. 141–149. PDF.

Jenny, B. and Hutzler E. (2008). Automatic scree representation for topographic maps. Proceedings of the 6th ICA Mountain Cartography Workshop, 11-15 Feb. 2008, Lenk, Switzerland, p 99-103. PDF.

Jenny, B., Gilgen, J., Hutzler, E. and Hurni, L. (s.d.) Automatische Gerölldarstellung für topographische Karten. Kartographische Nachrichten [accepted for publication].



Website

Scree Painter (2009) www.screepainter.com
Author: Bernhard Jenny