Available online
Description
This programme shows the spline technique being used in the design of a new road in County Durham.
This programme shows the spline technique being used in the design of a new road in County Durham.
| Module code and title: | M351, Numerical computation |
|---|---|
| Item code: | M351; 06 |
| First transmission date: | 17-08-1976 |
| Published: | 1976 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | John Richmond |
| Contributors: | Peter Blachford; Gordon Crane; Stuart Heatherington |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Cubic splines; Piano wire; Raby Castle road; Road design |
| Footage description: | From a road improvement scheme at Raby Castle in County Durham, Peter Blachford explains that the new road is being built using the spline technique. Gordon Crane, Management Information Engineer in County Durham's Surveyors Dept., explains the need for a new road, over film of the area being developed. He also briefly explains the role of both splines and a computer in the new development. Stuart Heatherington, Senior Mathematician in in the Surveyors' Dept., uses a computer animation to explain the use of location and drainage points. He shows the print-out information obtained from feeding three location points into the computer. Over a computer drawing of the road plan a narrator and then Heatherington explain why splines are the key to the whole operation. In the studio, Blachford examines the theory of cubic spline calculations, with the aid of graphics board diagrams. A sequence of computer animation shows the movement of cubic splines. Blachford provides voice over commentary. In the studio, Blachford indicates the spline properties of a length of piano wire, which forms part of the course Home Experiment Kit. Crane shows how the Surveyor' s Department uses piano wire over a plan of the Raby Castle road development in order to work out the route of the new road. He describes the constraints placed on the positioning of location points. Over shots of the Surveyor's Dept's plan, a narrator explains that the physical spline has to be replaced by a mathematical spline in the computer. At the actual Raby Castle site, Heatherington points out the drainage and location points in use. In the studio, Blachford introduces an item of practical work from the course. This involves routing a length of piano wire in a piece of imaginary road design. He suggests one possible route, and uses a 'discreet approximations package' to obtain results and a curve at the computer terminal. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/72124 |
| Production number: | 00525_4225 |
| Videofinder number: | 853 |
| Available to public: | no |
