Experiences in Digital Terrain: Using Digital Elevation Models for Music and Interactive Multimedia

The authors have investigated the use of data that describes actual geographical terrain for purposes of deriving music and animation in interactive multimedia applications. Their approach has been to create virtual “travelers”—automatic processes that move through the modeled terrain and respond to what they find on the basis of programmed rules of behavior. The authors discuss several implementations of the concept and outline directions they are exploring for further development.