Incorporating Slope and Elevation into GIS routing networks

Abstract

Transportation networks currently in use within a GIS are 2D in nature. Roads in the real world are 3D and so are interiors of multi-story buildings. Simply adding 3D coordinates to a line feature is not enough to make a useful routing network. This paper discusses ways to incorporate 3D information such as slope and elevation along a road and building networks with this additional information to make them more useable. Concepts of directional uphill, downhill and slope are explored and quantified for use in 3D routing analysis. Elevation change is quantified from 3D networks and used to model the driving range of electric vehicles. Networks within multi-story buildings have different issues than road networks. We discuss such issues as modeling room and floor access and providing indoor directions. GIS is used to visualize the results of 3D network analysis to provide more realistic results. Our results show that incorporating 3D into networks enable more useful routing applications to be developed in a GIS.