FLO2D

GRIDDEVELOPERSYSTEM

INTERPOLATIONMETHODFROMMULTIPLEFILES

FLO2DSoftware,Inc.


GDSInterpolationfromMultipleFiles

GDS new interpolation tool

Previous versions of the FLO2D Grid Developer System

(GDS)providedamethodtointerpolateterrainelevations
thatrequiredimportingallpoints.Theoriginalprocedure
wasnotabletohandlemorethanabout15millionpoints
duetolimitationsonthedevelopmenttoolsusedtocreate
GDS. To circumvent this limitation and allow the
processingofvirtuallyunlimitednumberofelevationpoint
data, FLO2D Software has developed a new method that
does not require importing the points and significantly
extendsthemodelinterpolationcapability.Thisdocument
summarizesthefunctionalityofthenewtoolandprovides
simpleinstructionshowtouseit.

Data requirements
The new interpolation tool reads data files in any of the
followingdataASCIIformats.
1) SpaceorcommadelimitedASCIIfiles,3datavaluesper
line
Thesefilescontainthreevaluesoneachlineasfollows:
X_CoordinateY_CoordinateElevation
Exampleofspacedelimitedfile:

369941.27
369946.27
369951.27

1183607.125
1183608.125
1183609.125

4654.71
4654.50
4654.29

Exampleofcommadelimitedfile:

369941.27 , 1183607.125 , 4654.71

369946.27 , 1183608.125 , 4654.50
369951.27 , 1183609.125 , 4654.29

2) SpaceorcommadelimitedASCIIfiles,5datavalues
perline
Thesefilescontainfivevaluesoneachlineasfollows:

IDX_CoordinateY_CoordinateElevationValue

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For this file format only the point coordinates and

elevation value is used. First column (ID) and last column
(Value)areignored.

Exampleofspacedelimitedfile:

X1
369941.27
1183607.125
4654.71 777
X2
369946.27
1183608.125
4654.50 71717
X3
369951.27
1183609.125
4654.29 2828

Exampleofcommadelimitedfile:

X1 , 369941.27 , 1183607.125 , 4654.71 , 777

X2 , 369946.27 , 1183608.125 , 4654.50 , 71717
X3 , 369951.27 , 1183609.125 , 4654.29 , 2828
3) ListofelevationdatafilesELEVFILES.DAT:
Thisoptionalfilecontainsthelistoffilesincludingpath
andname.Itneedstobecreatedbytheuserwithany
text editor program and facilitates handling hundreds
or thousands of files which may be difficult to select
usingastandardMSWindowsfilehandlingdialogbox.
Usersmaymixanyofthesupportedformats,i.e.,some
filesmaybe3columnspacedelimited,andothersfive
columnscommadelimited,etc.Allfilesmusthave.TXT
extension.

ExampleofELEVFILES.DATfile:

C:\PROJECTS\FLO2D\2009\Goat2009\dtm1.TXT
C:\PROJECTS\FLO2D\2009\Goat2009\dtm2.TXT
C:\PROJECTS\FLO2D\2009\Goat2009\dtm5col.TXT
C:\PROJECTS\FLO2D\2009\Goat2009\dtm5col2.TXT

NOTE: All elevation ASCII files, regardless of their format

musthaveextension.TXT.

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User instructions
GDS requires that the user creates a FLO2D grid prior to
interpolation.Tointerpolateusethenew
Interpolate from Multiple Elevation Files from the GDS
Gridmenuasshown:

Thiscommandwillbringupafileselectiondialog:

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Therearetwooptionshere:

UserscanselectanELEVFILES.DATfileifavailable,and
importthelistofelevationfilesintheformatdiscussedin
theprevioussectionor,
Userscanselecttheactualelevationdatafiles.Itis
necessarytochangethedefaultfileextensionto.TXTto
selectagroupofASCIIelevationfilesasfollows:

Foreitheroption,clickingOpen,displaystheinterpolation
dialogbox:

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Therearetwointerpolationoptiontochose.Thedefaultis
Use all available elevation points, which will compute the
interpolated elevations using all points on each grid
element. Selecting the Use this % of elevation points will
calculatetheelevationusingtheassignedsubsetofpoints
oneachgridelement.The%isaglobalvaluebasedonthe
averagenumberofelevationpointspergridelement.

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Interpolation method
IftheuserselectsUseallavailableelevationpointsoption,
theGDSwillcomputethegridelementelevationusingthe
elevation average of all points on the element. The GDS
does not import or display the elevation points, but
instead reads one point at a time, determines the grid
element where the point is located and computes the
average elevation. A similar procedure is followed if the
user selects a subset of points but GDS will calculate the
elevation using the indicated percentage of points on the
element.

If no elevation points are found on an element or if the

number of points is less than the specified percentage, a
tagvalueof9999willbeassignedtothatelement.Also
theelementwillbehighlightedinblackasshown:

If there is at least one element without a calculated

elevation, a dialog box will be displayed presenting three
optionstoassignelevationstothosegridelements:

The Interpolate from Nearest Grid Elements option will

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compute an elevation by assessing the elevation data in

the neighboring 8 grid elements and averaging the point
elevations (9999 values are not used). The algorithm
initiatesfromtheperipheryofaclusterofnoninterpolated
grid elements and proceeds to the interior of the cluster
ensuringthatattheendoftheprocedureallgridelements
willbeassignedanelevation.
Theusercanassignavaluetoall9999gridelementsusing
Assign this Value to all Noninterpolated Grid Elements.
Thethirdoptionwillleavealluninterpolatedelementswith
the9999tag.Theuserwillneedtodoubleclickandassign
adesiredelevationforeachone.
ThenewNonInterpolatedGridElementscommandonthe
View menu turns on or off the black unassigned grid
elements.

NOTE: GDS will not initiate a FLO2D model if there are

elementswiththe9999tag.

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GDSInterpolationfromMultipleFiles

Support
GDSsupportquestionsorcommentsmaybeaddressedby
emailtoreinaldo@flo2d.comorjim@flo2d.com.

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