Methods for generating a model of a physical entity, to render a model, to create a tree of hierarchical data, to rotate the data to model the lithosphere of the earth, and to build trees from data, computer software, apparatus, processing and conversion of data, the network. System for implementing the method.

摘要

A method for generating a model of a physical entity, in particular the earth, using one or more hierarchically organized multi-resolutional data trees T, each data tree including a plurality of nodes Nk, each node having a grid with a fixed number of points, wherein each node can store an arbitrary number of data items, each holding scalar field values for each point in the grid, the method including the steps of creating a geometry using one or more data trees; and creating an associated overlay using one or more data trees, wherein at least one of the geometry and overlay includes a formula to be applied to data within one or more data trees. This enables manipulation of the data within the data trees during rendering and increases the adaptability of the model without an increase in the required memory space. In preferred embodiments the nodes of the data trees include time dependent geo-references to allow the data trees to be time rotated.