The need of topographic restitution in local mobility analysis.
Diego Torres-Iglesias
Abstract When we conduct a landscape archaeology study in a GIS environment (especially the analysis of mobility) we should be aware that any territory undergoes a transformation, especially in the last 50 years. The Digital Terrain Models on which the study is based depart from the current topography (whether models from contours or the latest from LiDAR point clouds), so the lack of a correction and topographic restitution it can lead to certain errors, as can be the layout of an optimal path on a current road, an industrial area blocking sightlines or the the impossibility of study a valley submerged in a dam. The probability of obtaining these errors increase in inverse proportion to the cell size of the digital model, and we need high resolution models if we want a higher accuracy in the calculations and results over the previous relief; the examples in this paragraph are evident when we work with a 5x5 m. DEM. For all these reasons, it is essential to make a correction that brings us as closer as possible to a hypothetical paleotopography that allows us, among other things, know the evolution of a particular territory or calculate least cost paths avoiding “current interferences” such as the aforementioned actual roads, towns or, if we have the help of historical planimetry and orthophotos, opencast mines, dams and other significant alterations in the landscape.
Keywords: GIS, Local Mobility, Topographic Restitution, Landscape.
