Patent ID: 8669983

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for generating a computerized image of an ellipsoid earth model having a buffer around the model, the computer-implemented method comprising: retrieving from a computer store a selected ellipsoid earth model; one or more processors generating a buffer for the selected ellipsoid earth model by performing the following computer-implemented acts: (i) defining a buffer distance which represents an error tolerance for establishing a buffer around the selected ellipsoid earth model; (ii) defining a plurality of arcs which define an initial buffer around the selected ellipsoid earth model, each arc having start, end and mid points, with at least one of the start, end and mid points defined by geodetic coordinates; (iii) for each said arc, comparing to said defined buffer distance a distance from the arc to the selected ellipsoid earth model at two intermediate points; (iv) if the compared distance from a particular arc exceeds the error tolerance then splitting the particular arc at its mid-point to create a second and a third arc for the particular arc, the second and third arcs each having as an endpoint one of the start or end points of the particular arc that was split, and if the compared distance from the particular arc does exceed the error tolerance, then moving to another arc for the defined buffer; (v) repeating the acts for (iii) and (iv) for the second and third arcs, and for each said another arc, until the compared distance from each such arc no longer exceeds the error tolerance; and (vi) generating a final buffer from the arcs produced from the recursive performance of acts (iii) through (v) above; and rendering the selected ellipsoid earth model with the final buffer by displaying the rendered model with its buffer to a user at a computing system display.