Abstract
This paper examines the effects that uncertainty in digital elevation data has on results obtained from a spatial model. Ongoing analysis of glacial Lake Algonquin in northern Michigan has used a spatial model to interpolate unknown shoreline locations between known shoreline positions. Extant shoreline features were surveyed with global positioning technology and ancient shorelines were reconstructed using a DEM and a statistical model of isostatic rebound. However, shoreline data contain relatively small measurement errors and relatively large errors are associated with the DEM. These errors, when propagated through a series of GIS operations, may render uncertain results. This research recognises and attempts to assess these errors in order to produce a new map of Lake Algonquin shorelines — one that illustrates shorelines and areas of positional uncertainty. Results indicate that even small errors in input data can contribute uncertainty to model output. Understanding these uncertainties can be valuable to further research concerning these and other ancient shorelines.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Refrences
Bolstad PV, Stowe T (1994) An evaluation of DEM accuracy: elevation, slope, and aspect. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing 60(11):1327–1332
Brown DG, Bara TJ (1994) Recognition and reduction of systematic error in elevation and derivative surfaces from 7-1/2 minute DEMs. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 60(2): 189–194
Burrough PA, McDonnell RA (1998) Principles of Geographic Information Systems. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Futyma RP (1981) The northern limits of glacial Lake Algonquin in upper Michigan. Quaternary Research 15: 291–310
Gilbert GK (1898) Recent earth movements in the Great Lakes region. U.S. Geological Survey 18th Annual Report, Part 2. Washington D.C.
Goldthwait JW (1908) A reconstruction of water planes of the extinct glacial lakes in the Lake Michigan basin. Journal of Geology 16: 459–476
Goodchild MF, Gopal S (1989) Accuracy of Spatial Databases. London: Taylor & Francis.
Goovaerts P (1998) Impact of the simulation algorithm, magnitude of ergodic fluctuations and number of realizations on the spaces of uncertainty of flow predictions. Stanford Center for Reservoir Forecasting, Stanford University, Unpub. annual report No 11.
Heuvelink GBM (1998) Error propagation in environmental modelling with GIS. Bristol, PA: Taylor & Francis
Hough JL (1958) “Geology of the Great Lakes.“ Urbana: University of Illinois Press
Kyriakidis PC, Shortridge AM, Goodchild MF (1999) Geostatistics for conflation and accuracy assessment of digital elevation models. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 13(7):677–707
Larsen CE (1987) Geological history of Glacial Lake Algonquin and the Upper Great Lakes. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1801
Larson G, Schaetzl RJ (2001) Origin and evolution of the Great Lakes. Journal of Great Lakes Research 27(4):518–546
Leverett F, Taylor FB (1915) Pleistocene of Michigan and Indiana and the history of the Great Lakes. U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 53
National Geodetic Survey, Information Services Branch. (2001) NGS Datasheets [online]. Available from: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/datasheet.html (Viewed on March, 2001)
Pebesma EJ, Wesseling CG (1998) Gstat, a program for geostatistical modelling, prediction and simulation. Computers and Geosciences 24(1):17–31
Schaetzl RJ, Drzyzga SA, Weisenborn BN, Kincare KA, Cordoba XD, Shein KA, Dowd CM, Linker J (in press) Correlation and mapping of Lake Algonquin shorelines in Michigan. Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
Spencer JW (1891) Deformation of the Algonquin beach, and birth of Lake Huron. American Journal of Science 4:12–21
Stanley GM (1936) Lower Algonquin beaches of Penetanguishene Peninsula. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 47:1933–1960
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Drzyzga, S., Shortridge, A., Schaetzl, R. (2002). Revealing Uncertainty in Maps of Glacial Lake Algonquin. In: Richardson, D.E., van Oosterom, P. (eds) Advances in Spatial Data Handling. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56094-1_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56094-1_28
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62859-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-56094-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive