Parallel terrain feature extraction

Spatial models often must handle large datasets to capture the complex interactions of physical systems. This leads to computational intensity. Fortunately, many geographical problems can be decomposed into relatively independent parts that can be processed simultaneously. This paper describes a terrain feature extraction algorithm that operates in a parallel computing environment. The morphology of a drainage basin is derived using information provided by a DEM. The time efficiency of the algorithm is investigated, as well as the relative speedup accomplished over a sequential version of the algorithm.