Regional Centre For Training in Aerospace

surveys (RECTAS)

GPM III MODULE 4 LECTURE NOTE:

TIN

Prepared by: O.A. Opaleye

November , 2010 .
Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN)

It is a digital data structure used in GIS for

the representation of a surface.

A TIN is the representation of the physical land

surface, made up of irregular distributed nodes and
lines with 3-dimensional coordinates (x,y,z) that
are arranged in a network of non overlapping
triangles.
A TIN is used to represent shape or curvature of
a terrain using x,y,z . These points can be
scattered evenly over the study area, with areas
of more changes having more points.
The TIN method joins the height of observation
together with straight lines to create a network of
triangles.
These triangles are fitted through 3 points to
form planes and each point has a stored geo-
reference (x,y).
Delaunay Triangulations
This method was invented by Boris Delaunay in
1934. It is a proximal method that satisfies the
requirement that a circle drawn through the three
nodes of a triangle will contain no other nodes.
i.e. no points is inside the circumcircle of any
triangle. They tend to avoid skinny triangles.
Fowler and Little Algorithm

This method makes use of the local interpolator

and they proposed that positive points should be
connected to each other and all negative points
also to be connected to each other. This type of
TIN method is used to determine the shape of the
earth surface e.g. Peak, Pit, Ridge, Plain, Valley
etc.
- - - + + +
 
- + - + - +
 
- - - + + +
 
Peak Pit

 
+ + - + - -
 
+ + - + - -
 
+ + - + - -
 
Ridge Valley
 
Very Important Points (VIP)
 
• Points are connected diametrically.
 
• Points are connected up and down
 
• Points are connected horizontally and vertically
 
• Irregularly spaced points are preferred
 Thank You
for Listening