Dealing with error in spatial databases: a simple case study

The application investigated is a fundamental one - to determine the position of a given terrain elevation value and to portray the resultant error of the answer. Such a problem can be of critical concern to communities in cases of flood plain mapping, determination of rising sea levels resulting from global warming, or delineation of the full supply level for a proposed reservoir. In this instance, the authors suggest that the application of simple probability theory, when combined with the error estimates supplied by data producers and current computer graphics capabilities, can provide users with more meaningful information concerning the error of their spatial database products. -from Authors