Terrain analysis employs
elevation data, usually in conjunction with other geospatial information, to
describe the landscape, for basic visualization, modeling, or to support
decision making.
While terrain analysis can create tables,
scatterplots, or histograms, the primary product will almost always be a map.
The two reasons to do terrain analysis—explore
data and see relationships, and then communicate results to others—can be
considered part of telling a story.
Terrain analysis is the same as any other study
in geography, or indeed any intellectual endeavor, and differs only in the
questions asked and the data employed.
Terrain analysis ranges from largely qualitative, typified by military terrain
analysis, to sophisticated numerical computations in
geomorphometry.
Military terrain analysis is 'the collection, analysis, evaluation, and
interpretation of geographic information on the natural and man-made features of
the terrain, combined with other relevant factors, to predict the effect of the
terrain on military operations' (DoD, 2010).
The same principles would apply to engineering site analysis or the
selection of locations for economic development, where users seek to understand
how the terrain effects and limits human activity.
Geomorphometry is 'the science of
topographic quantification; its operational focus is the extraction of
land-surface parameters and objects from digital elevation models' (Pike et al.,
2009, p.4).
Key data for terrain analysis
Introduction to terrain analysis in MICRODEM
Last revision 10/30/2017