lidR (version 1.3.0)

grid_terrain: Digital Terrain Model

Description

Interpolates ground points and creates a rasterized digital terrain model. The interpolation can be done using 3 methods: "knnidw", "delaunay" or "kriging" (see details). The algorithm uses the points classified as "ground" to compute the interpolation. Depending on the interpolation method, the edges of the dataset can be more, or less poorly interpolated. A buffer around the region of interest is always recommended to avoid edge effects.

Usage

grid_terrain(x, res = 1, method, k = 10L, model = gstat::vgm(0.59, "Sph",
  874), keep_lowest = FALSE)

Arguments

x

An object of class LAS or a catalog (see section "Use with a LAScatalog")

res

numeric. resolution.

method

character. can be "knnidw", "delaunay" or "kriging" (see details)

k

numeric. number of k-nearest neighbours when the selected method is either "knnidw" or "kriging"

model

a variogram model computed with vgm when the selected method is "kriging". If null, it performs an ordinary or weighted least squares prediction.

keep_lowest

logical. This function forces the original lowest ground point of each pixel (if it exists) to be chosen instead of the interpolated values.

Value

A lasmetrics data.table.

Use with a <code>LAScatalog</code>

When the parameter x is a LAScatalog the function processes the entire dataset in a continuous way using a multicore process. Parallel computing is set by default to the number of core available in the computer. A buffer is required to avoid edge artifacts. The user can modify the global options using the function catalog_options. lidR support .lax files. Computation speed will be significantly improved with a spatial index.

Details

knnidw

Interpolation is done using a k-nearest neighbour (KNN) approach with an inverse distance weighting (IDW). This is a fast but basic method for spatial data interpolation.

delaunay

Interpolation based on Delaunay triangulation. It makes a linear interpolation within each triangle. There are usually few cells outside the convex hull, determined by the ground points at the very edge of the dataset that cannot be interpolated with a triangulation. Extrapolation is done using knnidw.

kriging

Interpolation is done by universal kriging using the krige function. This method combines the KNN approach with the kriging approach. For each point of interest the terrain is kriged using the k-nearest neighbour ground points. This method is more difficult to manipulate but it is also the most advanced method for interpolating spatial data.

See Also

grid_terrain lasnormalize vgm krige lasnormalize RasterLayer

Examples

# NOT RUN {
LASfile <- system.file("extdata", "Topography.laz", package="lidR")
lidar = readLAS(LASfile)
plot(lidar)

dtm1 = grid_terrain(lidar, method = "knnidw", k = 6)
dtm2 = grid_terrain(lidar, method = "delaunay")
dtm3 = grid_terrain(lidar, method = "kriging", k = 10)

# }
# NOT RUN {
plot(dtm1)
plot(dtm2)
plot(dtm3)
plot3d(dtm1)
plot3d(dtm2)
plot3d(dtm3)
# }