Identifying Least Cost Routes in Mountainous Terrains

Author: Thomas Balstroem
Organization: University of Copenhagen

Oster Voldgade 10
Copenhagen K, DK-1350
Denmark

Phone: +45 35322535
Fax: +45 35322501
tb@geogr.ku.dk

A procedure is presented to calculate the least cost route when visiting 16 sites within a mountainous watershed on the Faeroe Islands (located in the North Atlantic Ocean). The least cost route is derived from optimization of individual paths calculated from each site to all other sites based on 16 individual cost surfaces. The cost surfaces are established from combinations of field observations on actual costs of walking around in mountainous terrain given an accumulation of frictions from surface characteristics (soils, slopes, locations, rivers) and human conduction.