7/8/2015

LinearreferencingWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Linearreferencing
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Linearreferencing(alsocalledlinearreferencesystemorlinearreferencingsystemorLRS),isa
methodofspatialreferencing,inwhichthelocationsoffeaturesaredescribedintermsofmeasurements
alongalinearelement,fromadefinedstartingpoint,forexampleamilestonealongaroad.Eachfeature
islocatedbyeitherapoint(e.g.asignpost)oraline(e.g.anopassingzone).Thesystemisdesignedso
thatifasegmentofarouteischanged,onlythosemilepointsonthechangedsegmentneedtobe
updated.
Linearreferencingissuitableformanagementofdatarelatedtolinearfeatureslikeroads,railways,oil
andgastransmissionpipelines,poweranddatatransmissionlines,andrivers.
Asystemforidentifyingthelocationofpipelinefeaturesandcharacteristicsisbymeasuringdistance
fromthestartofthepipeline.Anexamplelinearreferenceaddressis:EngineeringStation1145+86on
pipelineAlpha=114,586feetfromthestartofthepipeline.Withareroute,cumulativestationingmight
notbethesameasengineeringstationing,becauseoftheadditionoftheextrapipeline.Linear
referencingsystemscomputethedifferencestoresolvethisdilemma.
Linearreferencingisoneofafamilyofmethodsofexpressinglocation.Coordinatessuchaslatitudeand
longitudeareanothermemberofthefamily,asarelandmarkreferencessuchas"5kmsouthofAyers
Rock."Linearreferencinghastraditionallybeentheexpressionofchoiceinengineeringapplications
suchasroadandpipelinemaintenance.Onecanmorerealisticallydispatchaworkertoabridge12.7km
alongaroadfromareferencepoint,ratherthantoapairofcoordinatesoralandmark.Theroadserves
asthereferenceframe,justastheearthservesasthereferenceframeforlatitudeandlongitude.
Consequently,amajorlimitationoflinearreferencingisthatspecifyingpointsthatarenotonalinear
featureistroublesomeanderrorprone,thoughnotentirelyimpossible.Considerforexampleaskilodge
located100meterstotherightoftheroad,travelingnorth.Thelinearreferencingsystemcanbe
extendedbyspecifyingalateraloffset,buttheabsolutelocation(i.e.coordinates)ofthelodgecannotbe
determinedunlesscoordinatesarespecifiedfortheroadthatprocessispronetoerrorparticularlyon
curvedroads.
Anothermajordrawbackoflinearreferencingisthatamodificationinthealignmentofaroad(e.g.
constructingabypassaroundatown)changesthemeasurementsthatreferencealldownstreampoints.
Thesystemrequiresanextensivenetworkofreferencestations,andconstantmaintenance.Inaneraof
mobilemapsandGPS,thismaintenanceoverheadforlinearreferencingsystemschallengesitslong
termviability.
Nonetheless,travelalongaroadisalinearexperience,andattheveryleast,linearreferencingwill
continuetohaveaconversationalrole:GPSbasednavigationsystemswillstilladvise:"turnright300
metersahead."

SeeAlso
Geographiccoordinatesystem

Supportedplatforms
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LinearreferencingWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

LinearreferencingissupportedforexamplebyseveralGeographicInformationSystemsoftware,
including:
Intergraph[1][2]
GEGlobalTransmissionOffice[3]
ArcGIS[4]
GEOMAPGIS[5]
GRASSGIS[6]
PostGIS[7]

References
1. Intergraph."AnLRSModelSupportingEventLocationStabilityandTemporalDataManagement"
(http://www.intergraph.com/assets/plugins/sgicollaterals/downloads/LinearRefSystem_SolutionSheet.pdf)
(PDF).
2. Intergraph."WhitePaper:AnAutomatedApproachtoManagingComponentsofaLinearReferenceSystem
NetworkandEventData"
(http://www.intergraph.com/assets/plugins/sgicollaterals/downloads/MLRS_WhitePaper.pdf)(PDF).
3. Benefits"SmallworldGlobalTransmissionOffice"
(http://www.gedigitalenergy.com/geospatial/catalog/smallworld_trans.htm?TopicName=Key).
4. Esri(24February2009)."ArcGIS9.3:Anoverviewoflinearreferencing"
(http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgiSDEsktop/9.3/index.cfm?TopicName=An_overview_of_linear_referencing).
Esri.Retrieved8March2011.
5. GeomapServices(6June2011)."GEOMAPGIS2012:Solutionforlinearreferencinganddynamic
segmentationoverAutodesk,ESRIorMapInfoproducts"(http://gsweb.geomapgis.com/web1/tikiindex.php?
page=Routes).GeomapServices.Retrieved11November2011.
6. RadimBlazek(March2005)."IntroducingtheLinearReferenceSysteminGRASS"
(http://www.gisdevelopment.net/proceedings/fossgrass/papers/Introducing%20the%20Linear%20Reference%2
0System%20in%20GRASS.pdf)(PDF).InternationalJournalofGeoinformatics1(3).Retrieved20070501.
7. PostGISteam(2010)."PostGIS1.5.2Manual"(http://postgis.refractions.net/documentation/manual
1.5/reference.html#Linear_Referencing).Retrieved8March2011.

Noronha,ValChurch,RichardL.(2002),LinearReferencingandAlternateExpressionsof
LocationforTransportation(http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/vital/research/pubs/200204
LRsynthesis.pdf)(PDF),SantaBarbara,California:VehicleIntelligenceandTransportation
AnalysisLaboratory,NationalCenterforGeographicInformationandAnalysis,retrieved8March
2011
Curtin,KArifin,RNicoara,G(2007),AComprehensiveProcessforLinearReferencing
(http://ggs.gmu.edu/People/Curtin/LinearRef.pdf)(PDF),URISAJournal19(2),4150
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linear_referencing&oldid=666217146"
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