U.S.-Italy Cooperative Research:  Visibility Characteristicsof Digital Terrain Models
{'Code': '01090000', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'O/D', 'LongName': 'Office Of The Director'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'OISE', 'LongName': 'Office Of Internatl Science &Engineering'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Harold Stolberg', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
This award will enable Prof. George Nagy of Rensselaer Polytechnic              Institute and Dr. Bianca Falcidieno of the Italian National Research            Council in Genova, Italy, to continue a successful collaboration that           started in 1981.  An algorithm developed in the previous stage of the           research is used to define a data structure, called a visibility map,           on an appropriately triangulated terrain model.  The map shows                  whether there is an unimpeded line of sight between any two points.             The algorithm is related to existing hidden-surface algorithms, but             incorporates concepts based on the unique characteristics of the                problem.  Additionally, the global nature of the visibility model               provides a useful alternative to partial derivatives for defining               topographic entities.  Other algorithms have been developed applying            the resulting visibility map to rank order the best observation                 points.  Among the problems to be considered by the investigators               are:  line of sight (television, FM, radar) communications and                  surveillance problems; hidden paths; orientation and navigation; the            inverse transform from the visibility map to the original terrain               data; data compression; and the extraction of significant terrain               features such as ridges and valleys.                                                                                                                            The U.S. PI will bring to the collaboration experience with computer            vision, optical scanning, and engineering applications of pattern               recognition, remote sensing, geographic data processing, and                    computational geometry.  The Italian side will provide expertise in             computational geography, computer cartography, computer graphics,               solid modeling, and graph theory.  The research is expected to                  contribute to computational geometry, to topographic information                systems, and to telecommunications.
{'FirstName': 'George', 'LastName': 'Nagy', 'PI_MID_INIT': None, 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'George Nagy', 'EmailAddress': 'nagy@ecse.rpi.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000177631', 'StartDate': '03/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute', 'CityName': 'TROY', 'ZipCode': '121803590', 'PhoneNumber': '5182766000', 'StreetAddress': '110 8TH ST', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'New York', 'StateCode': 'NY', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '20', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'NY20', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'U5WBFKEBLMX3', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '5920', 'Text': 'ITALY'}
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