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Last data update: 2014.03.03

R: Calculate slope and aspect from elevation data.

slopeasp

R Documentation

Calculate slope and aspect from elevation data.

Description

Uses gridded elevation data to calculate slope and aspect, by default using a 3x3 region.

Usage

slopeasp(x, EWres, NSres, EWkernel, NSkernel, smoothing=1)

Arguments

`x`	gridded elevation data, either as a SpatialGridDataFrame, dataframe, or matrix.
`EWres`	East-West grid resolution. May be omitted if x is a SpatialGridDataFrame.
`NSres`	North-South grid resolution. May be omitted if x is a SpatialGridDataFrame.
`EWkernel`	The kernel to use when calculating the East-West component of slope. If missing, a 3x3 kernel will be used.
`NSkernel`	The kernel to use when calculating the North-South component of slope. If missing, a 3x3 kernel will be used.
`smoothing`	A positive integer describing the additional smoothing to be applied, if any. smoothing=1 (default) means no smoothing will be used.

Details

By default, a 3x3 Sobel filter is used (as is standard in many GIS packages). A larger Sobel filter or a different filter will give varying results. This filter provides the third-order finite difference weighted by reciprocal of distance method proposed by Unwin (1981).

Value

`slope`	The slope of the DEM, in degrees
`aspect`	The aspect of the DEM, beginning with north and moving clockwise, and with aspect = 0 where slope = 0.

Author(s)

Sarah Goslee

References

Unwin, D. 1981. Introductory Spatial Analysis. London: Methuen. Clarke, K.C.and Lee, S.J. 2007. Spatial resolution and algorithm choice as modifiers of downslope flow computed from Digital Elevation Models. Cartography and Geographic Information Science 34:215-230.

Examples

	data(dem)
	dem.slopeasp <- slopeasp(dem)

	par(mfrow=c(1,3))
	image(dem)
	image(dem.slopeasp$slope)
	image(dem.slopeasp$aspect)