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On Fuzziness and Relationships: Abstraction and Illustrative Visualization in Snow Avalanche Control Planning

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Book cover The Active Image

Part of the book series: Philosophy of Engineering and Technology ((POET,volume 28))

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Abstract

This paper deals with a peripheral field of landscape architecture, focusing on the planning processes in Austrian avalanche control which are almost exclusively regarded from an engineering point of view. It is interesting to analyze how landscape is effective as imagined as well as operative image and how it is represented in abstract, multidimensional models. In particular, it becomes evident that, when working with spatial models, visual phenomena are an essential and equally relevant aspect. However, visual and model phenomena begin to blur. The first part explores how the diverse planning tools (maps, models, simulations) are generated in order to display or reconstruct landscape. In addition, their role in the planning process is explained. The second part aims to specify to what extent the image visualization of models is essential and also responsible for the design of construction measures.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a more detailed discussion of the applied method of aerial photogrammetric analysis, see the section 11.1.2 “Photomaps: landscape photos or landscape model?”

  2. 2.

    In cartography, the term “model” has been in use only since the digital storage and processing of topographic data. However, the term “analog model” may also be applied to a topographic map that does not depict a detailed image of the landscape but is rather restricted to the essentials (Kohlstock 2011: 159).

  3. 3.

    Following Ralf Adelmann and Jan Frercks, the term “visualized data” (Datenbilder) refers to those modeling and simulation processes in which no differentiation is made between data and images regarding the representation of objects (Adelmann et al. 2009: 17).

  4. 4.

    In analogy to the architectural model, models are regarded as media in that they, in the form of physical model object as well as digital memory, convey reality and make reality an experience.

  5. 5.

    Within the framework of engineering studies, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, offers a tailor-made master program on “Alpine Natural Hazards/Torrent and Avalanche Control.”

  6. 6.

    Landscape architecture is discussed only in the course of applications for approval pursuant to environmental law, which have to be based on considerations relating to the conservation of diversity, character, and beauty (without any further definition) of the landscape. However, approval is granted if proof is provided that public interest outweighs nature conservation. As this argument has always been accepted in case of safety infrastructure projects, the discussion is a rhetorical one (see also Tiroler Naturschutzgesetz 2005).

  7. 7.

    See for example DETAIL Magazine 05/2013; turrisbabel 92/2012; Polis 03/2013, 2013.

  8. 8.

    For the time being, this explanation neglects the fact that plans and maps may also have model character.

  9. 9.

    This study is based on my analyses of visualizing and modeling practices, which are employed by engineers and architects for building avalanche defense structures in Tyrol, Austria. In contrast to the results of modeling edited for publication, the steps to digital modeling have hardly ever been visually documented. Besides working with the published images, interviews were conducted with engineers of the Torrent and Avalanche Control as well as with both LAAC architects. It was the aim of the interviews to gain insight into the practical application of methods on the screen and get answers (relating, for example, to guidelines of software and user interface) by having a look at computer programs and modeling processes. As both LAAC projects presented in this paper were in the concept phase at the time, the visual material shows different draft stages, which has the advantage of documenting significant intermediate steps. However, it is lagging behind when processes have been completed in the meantime; thus, my arguments delivered cannot be proved through results.

    The interviews were conducted with LAAC architects Kathrin Aste and Frank Ludin on April 11, 2013 and June 19, 2013; with Christian Tollinger and Leopold Stepanek of Torrent Avalanche Control, on June 17, 2013; and with Christian Tollinger on October 20, 2013. My sincerest thanks to these experts for their valuable support.

  10. 10.

    Early examples of avalanche defense structures are the wedge-shaped barrier at Frauenkirche in Davos, Switzerland, dating back to the early seventeenth century, and a four-meter-high stone deflection wall built in Leukerbad, Switzerland, around 1600 (see e.g. WSL-Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung SLF 2013).

  11. 11.

    The mountain slopes are traditionally named after a specific avalanche.

  12. 12.

    In orthogonal projection, the projection lines are at right angles to the projection plane. This corresponds to the perpendicular view on the Earth’s surface; thus, all elements are represented accurately in their shape and position.

  13. 13.

    In the stereophotogrammetric method, at least two overlapping photographs, taken from slightly different positions, provide the required information to identify geometrically the spatial position of all points on a given surface. The first instrument for stereomapping was developed as early as 1915; digital photographs, however, require specific software to make stereometric evaluation possible. This software produces a spatial image from two overlapping photographs and is able to scan and survey the visualized spatial model (Albertz 2009: 149).

  14. 14.

    Since the 1990s, another method has been applied to rectify aerial photographs by performing laser scanning on a surface terrain model, which consists of three-dimensionally referenced points. In Austria, this technique has been applied nationwide.

  15. 15.

    For general information on producing digital terrain models in remote sensing, see Albertz (2009), Kohlstock (2011), and Torsten Prinz (2007).

  16. 16.

    Concerning the differentiation and context between diagram and image in cartographic representations, see Stephan Günzel, and Lars Nowak (2012), and, in particular Schramm (2012: 458).

  17. 17.

    Concerning the visualization of models, see Achim Spelten (2008).

  18. 18.

    Concerning possible applications and products of digital terrain and landscape models, see also Armin Grün (2001).

  19. 19.

    In the aftermath of the Galtür avalanche disaster, the Torrent and Avalanche Control District Office “Snow and Avalanches” was established in Schwaz, Tyrol, in 1999/2000. It has focused on developing a dynamic 3D avalanche model and on conducting all avalanche simulations required in Tyrol.

  20. 20.

    In this context, silent witnesses include signs of erosion and accumulation as well as vegetation evidence (Rudolf-Miklau and Sauermoser 2011: 112).

  21. 21.

    If high-quality historical data is available, it is still preferred to simulation.

  22. 22.

    This field results from the fact that the critical limit for avalanche release is a slope inclination of more than 28°, but below 50° in order to have a sufficient amount of snow.

  23. 23.

    The Samos-AT simulation software was developed by AVL List GmbH, in cooperation with the Torrent and Avalanche Control and the Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape. It is a 3D simulation program for flow avalanches and dry snow avalanches, which can be evaluated on the basis of three-dimensional terrain surfaces. The dry snow avalanche simulation is calculated with AVL FIRE software, as the mixture of ice particles and air; this software was originally developed for calculating the air-fuel mixture of combustion engines (Wildbach Stabstelle Schnee und Lawinen n.d.).

  24. 24.

    The two-dimensional RAMMS avalanche simulation program was developed by the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, in Davos (CH). Just like Samos-AT, it provides the option for three-dimensional visualization in a separate user interface.

  25. 25.

    The color spectrum used here was randomly chosen.

  26. 26.

    In this context, draping refers to applying orthophotos, the so-called “image drapes” to the model.

  27. 27.

    Concerning the localization in images and maps as mirror of the world, see Judith Miggelbrink (2009) and Stephan Günzel (2009).

  28. 28.

    The Siglufjördur avalanche barriers on Iceland, designed by the Icelandic Landslag Architects, are a rare exception (see e. g. Garten + Landschaft 2009).

  29. 29.

    Innsbruck-based LAAC zt-gmbh was set up by the architects Kathrin Aste and Frank Ludin in 2009.

  30. 30.

    Lines of greatest slope describe all the lines that start from a specific point upslope and follow the steepest inclination. They trace the course of a water drop, so to speak, and are orthogonal to the horizontal contour lines. Lines of greatest slope are used as topographic information, for example, for calculating rockfall and ice fall, but they are not visualized in common map representations.

  31. 31.

    The program Rhinoceros, abbreviated Rhino, makes it possible to model 3D surfaces and volumes and process polygon meshes and point clouds. Grasshopper is an extension for Rhino, used for creating parametric models and generative algorithms; it can be applied without much knowledge in programing. Gecko, on the other hand, provides an interface to graphic software, which is employed to integrate environmental factors (e.g. energy factors). The term “rendering” stands for the final visualization of a drawing; by assuming, for example lighting and surface textures, it is turned into an illustrative image.

  32. 32.

    Concerning the transformation from map graphics to map imagery, see Schramm (2012).

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  1. Technical University of Munich, Germany, Innsbruck, Austria

    Doris Hallama

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  1. Doris Hallama
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  1. Institute of Vocational Education and Work Studies, Berlin University of Technology, Berlin, Germany

    Sabine Ammon

  2. Philosophy Department, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, USA

    Remei Capdevila-Werning

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Hallama, D. (2017). On Fuzziness and Relationships: Abstraction and Illustrative Visualization in Snow Avalanche Control Planning. In: Ammon, S., Capdevila-Werning, R. (eds) The Active Image. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56466-1_11

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