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Oriented Centerline

Summary

Oriented center-line (ie. medial axis) of the input polygons based on an auxiliary stream network and a DEM.

Tags:
vector, polygon, medial axis, disaggregation, model, centerline, valley, line orientation, dem

Usage

Compute the medial axis of a polygon and orient lines from upstream to downstream with provided DEM. Useful for computing centerlines of a valley bottom or any other polygon for which you have a corresponding stream network.

If a stream network is not available for your polygon (ex. historical channel), it is possible to use instead a created LineString which cut the polygon boundaries upstream and downstream.

Algorithm:

Intersect the input polygon boundaries with the stream network
Keep the most distant resulting points (upstream and downstream points)
Cut the input polygon boundaries with the upstream and downstream points (get two polygon sides)
Compute Voronoi polygons with points on the sides and dissolve it on each side
Cut the Voronoi lines with the input polygon
Remove duplicate lines
Drape lines on DEM
Check/Fix links orientation

Parameters

Parameter Description Type
Disaggregation distance
disaggregationdistance
Distance between points on the input polygon sides to compute the
Voronoi polygons. The smaller the distance, the smoother the result will be.
Default value: 25
Number
DEM
mnt
Digital Elevation Model. Raster
Polygon
polygon
Polygon to compute the centerline. Polygon
Stream network
streamnetwork
Stream network to compute the upstream and downstream points.
ex. french BDCarthage.
LineString
Oriented centerline
Oriented centerline
Resulting centerline. LineString

See Also