Knowledge based extraction of ridge lines from digital terrain elevation data

A fuzzy rule based approach for extracting ridge lines from digital terrain elevation data (DTED) and digital elevation model (DEM) is presented. The algorithm consists of three major steps: Fuzzy rule based classification of the elevation data, ridge pixel detection from the pixel class under consideration, and filtration of unwanted pixels. The algorithm was tested on different DTED level 1 files and digital elevation model (DEM) and works well for both.