Open map List

Continuous Field

Introduction

In a continuous field, the underlying function is assumed to be “mathematically smooth”, meaning that the field values along any path through the study area do not change abruptly, but only gradually. Good examples of continuous fields are air temperature, barometric pressure, soil salinity and elevation. A continuous field can even be differentiable, meaning that we can determine a measure of change in the field value per unit of distance anywhere and in any direction. For example, if the field is elevation, this measure would be slope, i.e. the change of elevation per metre distance; if the field is soil salinity, it would be salinity gradient, i.e. the change of salinity per metre distance.

Examples

 

Figure: Elevation in the Falset study area, Tarragona province, Spain. The area is approximately 25x20km. The illustration has been easthetically improved by a technique known as "hillshading". In this case, it is as if the sun shines from the north-west, giving a shadow effect twowards the south-east. Thus colour alone is not a good indicator of elevation; observe that elevation is a continous function over space.

Learning outcomes

  • 1 - Spatial data modelling: geographic phenomena

    Explain what geographic phenomena are, their spatial and temporal aspects and the relationship between the type of phenomena and their computer representation (level 1 and 2 according to Bloom’s taxonomy).

Prior knowledge

Outgoing relations

Incoming relations

Learning paths