Abstract

DEM Vertical Error Assessment by Approximation Theory
Track: Education and Training
Authors: XiaoHang Liu, Jason Sherba

Existing research on DEM vertical accuracy assessment mainly uses statistical methodology. However, it can be shown that statistics often does not apply to DEM vertical error. This paper presents approximation theory in computational science as a new viable methodology and illustrates how to apply it to DEM quality control. Using an example of a DEM generated from a topographic map through linear interpolation, accuracy is determined by the largest error of any point in the entire domain (not samples). It can be derived that the largest error at a point depends on the error in the topographic map, the curvature at the point, and the distance between the reference points. The paper illustrates how to compute each term and present the results in the form of an error map.