Verarbeitung und Anwendung digitaler Geländemodelle im Bereich der Geographie

Abstract. Digital terrain models (DTMs) today are a major component of geographie information Systems (GIS). They support the analysis and display of phenomena related to the topography of the earth's surface. Thus, DTMs are mainly used in the environmental sciences and in natural resources management, as well as in engineering and planning applications.
This article intends to present an introduction and overview of the techniques of digital terrain modeling and their application in GIS. DTM processing is regarded as a sub-system of a GIS, with a range of functions similar to that ofthe main System, yet utilizing specific tools (i. e. algonthms and data structures) tailored to the particular requirements of surface models. Following a brief review of the components of a DTM System some examples of applications of DTMs will be presented. The article is concluded with a discussion of major directions for future research.