USING TAILORED GRAPHICAL TOOLS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF DISPLACEMENT MAPS AT CTTC: THE VETOOLS

Abstract. The Geomatics Division of the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC) has been producing terrain displacement maps for more than 15 years using the PSIG software chain, developed entirely by the members of the aforesaid group. PSIG has reached a high level of maturity, being highly automated but also offering the user the possibility to fine-tune the set of critical parameters controlling the process. However, large areas with a high level of diversity often pose problems in finding a good quality solution using a single set of parameters. Improving the quality of the final terrain displacement map means being able to process very local and critical areas using specific sets of parameters; however, identifying such areas is a difficult process without suitable analysis tools. The VETools, a new software project still under development, but very close to its completion, target this problem. With the VETools it is possible to visualize the results produced by a previous PSIG global processing, analysing their quality, thus making possible to identify the local, critical areas, allowing the user to interactively experiment with specific sets of parameters for these areas, reprocessing them and reviewing the local results as many times as desired and, finally, merging all of them in a single, unique solution whose level of quality is appropriate for the whole area of interest. This work presents the current state of development of the VETools, describing their features and the challenges overcome.