Cartographic Method of Surface Characteristics Analysis1,2 R. I. Iziumov and A. L.

Svistkov Institute of
continuous media mechanics UB RAS, acad. Koroleva st. 1, Perm, 614013 Russia email: izumov@icmm.ru
Abstract—A wide range of investigations is based on analysis of experimental data, which are
represented as a function of two variables (height of the relief h(x, y), microhardness, color, etc.). In the
studying of process or phenomenon change of these functions after the experiment is of great interest.
On numerous occasions the main problem in comparative analysis of the data sets is the absence of a
natural reference level (such as sea level), respect to which changes of the surface characteristics can be
determined. We suggest the possible algorithm of determining of the reference level. Also there is its
comparison with the standard methods in this paper. This method was used for AFM data processing in
the study of effects of natural and artificial factors on the surface of human tooth enamel. The paper
presents the main results of this research and shows the necessity of additional data processing using
the developed method. Keywords: data processing, reference level, topography, atomic force
microscopy. DOI: 10.1134/S1054661816010090 Received May 20, 2015 APPLIED PROBLEMS 126
PATTERN RECOGNITION AND IMAGE ANALYSIS Vol. 26 No. 1 2016 IZIUMOV, SVISTKOV surface before
and after treatment, while preserving previous information about the reference level of relief
elevations, in order to adequately determine the occurring changes. This can be illustrated by Fig. 1,
which depicts a surface formed by a horizontal plane with loosely disposed columns of equal height and
square section. A part of the horizontal plane is shown as rectangle ABCD. The plane passes through the
axes x and y. The vertical axis is indicates the height h at each point of the surface. It has two values:
either this is h = 0 (if the points are on the plane), or h = H (if the points are on the columns). The height
of the columns is denoted by H. In this example, it seems reasonable to use the level of the plane as the
reference level, and the height of columns should be counted off from this reference plane. Further we
will discuss how we can create the algorithm for calculating the reference level. The first thing which we
should take note of is that the arithmetic mean of the maximum and minimum heights cannot be used
as a reference level. On the one hand, the result will not depend on the kind of rectan gular areas
selected for the analysis—S1, S2 or S3. However, the reference level will cross the columns in the
middle, provided that the examined region con tains at least part of the column and part of the surface,
on which it stands. But such a result has no physical meaning (Fig. 2). Alternatively, we can find a
reference level as an average height of a set of points on the surface. But in this case, the result will
depend on the choice of area S1, S2 or S3, on which the average height is determined (Fig. 1). It means
that the result depends on the choice of a researcher. This result is not objective, and cannot be used for
a quantitative analysis of the sample sur face. REQUIREMENTS TO THE METHOD OF PROCESSING Thus,
we can establish the following requirements that must be satisfied by the method used to study sur face
properties: (1) The adequacy of the result of applying the method to real expectation. It means that the
choice of the reference level should be physically valid and, to some extent, should not contradict the
common sense. For example, when we analyze the surface with sparsely distributed peaks and valleys,
we must determine the reference level embracing most of the surface points. (2) The ability of visual
representation. This requirement is essential for comparative anal ysis when it is necessary to select only
such regions of the surface, which experience changes. In other words, a small change in the
investigated area (an increase in the size or a shift of the area boundaries) should not significantly affect
the value of the refer ence level. (3) Efficiency. The operating speed of the algorithm can be essen tial
when it is necessary to process a large volume of data. THE CONCEPT OF THE CARTOGRAPHIC METHOD
In this study we propose one of the possible variants of determining the reference level. Since the
method of obtaining numerical information is based on the ideas used in cartography, then the
proposed method of obtaining quantitative information can be named “cartographic”. The paper
extends the idea of using the contour lines to visual representation of the exam ined surface topography
[19]. The novelty of the pro posed approach is the method used to evaluate the ref erence level, which,
in our opinion, defines more ade quately the boundary of the material. Maps have been used since
ancient times. The most important step in the cartography was made in the XVIII century when the
concept of height above sea level was first elaborated and practically applied and the technique for
imaging heights with the use of con tour lines was developed. In modern science, the iso lines are used
to visualize a scalar function of two vari ables. They are the lines of equal value of any quantity. There
are a large number of computer programs, which allows us to create isolines and fill the areas between
the lines with a specified color. Moreover, the reference level plays an important role in geography