Topological Operations for Geomorphological Evolution

Abstract

Geomorphological processes sculpt the shape of our everyday landscapes and must therefore be simulated to generate plausible digital landscapes. In particular, topological changes must be taken into account during the formation of complex geometries such as natural arches, bridges or tunnels. We present a novel approach to simulate the geomorphological evolution of a 3D terrain represented as a set of volumes stored in a topological model, and describe a set of atomic operations to handle topological events in a robust way. These operations form the basis to successfully implement more complex evolution scenarios in a modelling software based on generalized maps, which could be used to reduce the storage needed by other methods relying on voxel grids or layered data structures.