{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T10:13:42Z","timestamp":1781518422668,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,15]],"date-time":"2019-01-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1547510400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Topographic factors such as slope and aspect are essential parameters in depicting the structure and morphology of a terrain surface. We study the effect of the number of points in the neighbourhood of a digital elevation model (DEM) interpolation method on mean slope, mean aspect, and RMSEs of slope and aspect from the interpolated DEM. As the moving least squares (MLS) method can maintain the inherent properties and other characteristics of a surface, this method is chosen for DEM interpolation. Three areas containing different types of topographic features are selected for study. Simulated data from a Gauss surface is also used for comparison. First, the impact of the number of points on the DEM root mean square error (RMSE) is analysed. The DEM RMSE in the three study areas decreases gradually with the number of points in the neighbourhood. In addition, the effect of the number of points in the neighbourhood on mean slope and mean aspect was studied across varying topographies through regression analysis. The two variables respond differently to changes in terrain. However, the RMSEs of the slope and aspect in all study areas are logarithmically related to the number of points in the neighbourhood and the values decrease uniformly as the number of points in the neighbourhood increases. With more points in the neighbourhood, the RMSEs of the slope and aspect are not sensitive to topography differences and the same trends are observed for the three studied quantities. Results for the Gauss surface are similar. Finally, this study analyses the spatial distribution of slope and aspect errors. The slope error is concentrated in ridges, valleys, steep-slope areas, and ditch edges while the aspect error is concentrated in ridges, valleys, and flat regions. With more points in the neighbourhood, the number of grid cells in which the slope error is greater than 15\u00b0 is gradually reduced. With similar terrain types and data sources, if the calculation efficiency is not a concern, sufficient points in the spatial autocorrelation range should be analysed in the neighbourhood to maximize the accuracy of the slope and aspect. However, selecting between 10 and 12 points in the neighbourhood is economical.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi8010030","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,16]],"date-time":"2019-01-16T03:09:13Z","timestamp":1547608153000},"page":"30","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Effect of DEM Interpolation Neighbourhood on Terrain Factors"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Ying","family":"Zhu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environmental Science of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xuejun","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Virtual Geographic Environment of Ministry of Education, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environmental Science of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jianjun","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environmental Science of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaolei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environmental Science of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dongliang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environmental Science of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cageo.2013.06.001","article-title":"A flooding algorithm for extracting drainage networks from unprocessed digital elevation models","volume":"59","author":"Rueda","year":"2013","journal-title":"Comput. 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