MRVd: a viewshed method for coupling multi-resolution terrain data

Zengjie Wang

doi:10.1080/13658816.2026.2624786

MRVd: a viewshed method for coupling multi-resolution terrain data

2026-02-23

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DOI：10.1080/13658816.2026.2624786

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Regular-grid Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data are fundamental for viewshed analysis, with direct effects on both computational accuracy and efficiency. High-resolution DEMs yield more detailed results, but computational costs can be prohibitively high, creating a dilemma of balancing computational accuracy and efficiency. To address this, we propose a multi-resolution viewshed (MRVd) method that couples varying resolutions of terrain data based on distance from the viewpoint: high-resolution DEM data are used near the viewpoint, while low-resolution DEM data are used further away. Experiments conducted across mountainous, plain, and urban terrains show that MRVd can achieve better performance than fixed-resolution viewshed approaches with only marginal additional computation time. Accuracy improvements were 2–3 times on average and up to 6–7 times in some cases. Furthermore, MRVd effectively mitigates chunk distortion by leveraging the localized high-resolution DEM data, producing results similar to those obtained using uniformly high-resolution DEM data. These findings suggest that coupling multi-resolution terrain data provides a scalable, resource-efficient computational strategy to balance accuracy and efficiency in viewshed computation. The MRVd approach enhances the robustness and reliability of viewshed calculation for practical applications in landscape assessment, spatial planning, archaeology, and related fields.

Keywords:

Viewshed

multi-resolution viewshed

viewshed error

chunk distortion

MRVd: a viewshed method for coupling multi-resolution terrain data

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