Surface representation for the graphical display of structured data

In many applications one has a set of discrete points at which some variable such as pressure or velocity is measured. In order to graphically represent and display such data (say, as contours of constant pressure), the discrete data must be represented by a smooth function. This continuous surface can then be evaluated at any point for graphical display. Sometimes data are arbitrarily located except that they occur along non-intersecting “lines”, an example occurring in wind tunnel tests where data are recorded at “plug taps” on an aircraft body. An algorithm is developed for this type of “structured” data problem and illustrated by means of color computer graphics.