Fast gridding of irregular data
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for producing a gridded data set, having M rows by N columns of grid, from a number of irregularly located P sampling points in a very large data set used for modeling and analysis of spatial data and stored in computer memory, the method comprising:
- computing for each sampling point P, corresponding grid indices in an M by N grid pattern by taking a modulus of coordinates associated with each sampling point;
matching each of the P sampling points to a small rectangular pattern of mi rows by ni columns, where mi and ni define a small region of influence, selected independently of the number of sampling points, distributed around each sample point P;
accumulating grid index values in a first M row by N column computer memory storage array for each P sampling point;
incrementing counters in a second M row by N column computer memory storage array where multiple P sampling points are matched to the same grid index;
scanning the grid a single time, once all P sampling points have been processed, and calculating, for each grid index, a grid value based on the interpolation of the grid index values; and
storing the calculated grid value of the first array to the computer memory storage.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of fast gridding of irregular data, has been developed for spatial interpolation of large irregular spatial point data sets; for example building a 3D geographic terrain grid surface from billions of irregularly spaced xyz coordinates on the earth'"'"'s surface. The method developed typically translates into many orders of magnitude gain in computational speed. For example, to produce a gridded data set (having M rows and N columns) from P irregularly located sampling points, the computational steps required can be reduced from a number of the order of O(M×N×P) to a lesser number of the order of O(M×N+P) operations. The method achieves this by ensuring that each of the P sampling points is visited only once. This is particularly significant since spatial data collection devices typically collect data points in the billions. The method described is readily extendible to any number of dimensions.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for producing a gridded data set, having M rows by N columns of grid, from a number of irregularly located P sampling points in a very large data set used for modeling and analysis of spatial data and stored in computer memory, the method comprising:
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computing for each sampling point P, corresponding grid indices in an M by N grid pattern by taking a modulus of coordinates associated with each sampling point; matching each of the P sampling points to a small rectangular pattern of mi rows by ni columns, where mi and ni define a small region of influence, selected independently of the number of sampling points, distributed around each sample point P; accumulating grid index values in a first M row by N column computer memory storage array for each P sampling point; incrementing counters in a second M row by N column computer memory storage array where multiple P sampling points are matched to the same grid index; scanning the grid a single time, once all P sampling points have been processed, and calculating, for each grid index, a grid value based on the interpolation of the grid index values; and storing the calculated grid value of the first array to the computer memory storage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification