# US 2014/0207380 A1 · Evaluating Surface Data > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0207380 A1 - Document ID: US20140207380A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 14/220,621 - Filed: 2014-03-20 - Published: 2014-07-24 - Earliest claimed: 2010-11-30 - Assignees: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. - Applicants: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. - Inventors: Eric J. Davis - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140207380A1 ## CPC - G01V 99/00: Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass - G01S 13/88: Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications (electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00) - G01V 20/00: Geomodelling in general - G06F 16/29: Geographical information databases - G01V: GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS; TAGS (means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons A63B29/02) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Systems, methods, and instructions encoded in a computer-readable medium can perform operations related to evaluating surface data. Geodetic data for a plurality of surface locations are received. The geodetic data may include surface gradient information and/or surface elevation information for multiple surface locations. A set of constraining relationships is generated based on the geodetic data. The set of constraining relationships relates undetermined values of surface elevation movement and/or undetermined values of surface gradient movement to measured surface elevation changes and/or measured surface gradient changes. Some or all of the constraining relationships include multiple undetermined values. Particular values for surface elevation movements and/or particular values for surface gradient movements are calculated for multiple surface locations based on determining a solution to the set of constraining relationships. In some implementations, a minimum curvature surface may be generated deterministically based on the geodetic data and the particular values identified using the constraining relationships. ## Claims ### Claim at position 1 -14. (canceled) ### Claim 15 A computer-implemented method for evaluating surface data, the method comprising: receiving geodetic data for a plurality of surface locations in a geographic region, the geodetic data comprising: measurements of surface elevation movement for a first subset of the surface locations in a first area in the geographic region; and measurements of surface gradient movement for a different, second subset of the surface locations in a different, second area in the geographic region; generating a set of constraining relationships based on the geodetic data, the set of constraining relationships relates undetermined values for surface gradient movements at the first subset of surface locations and undetermined values for surface elevation movements at the second subset of surface locations to the measurements of surface elevation movement and the measurements of surface gradient movement included in the geodetic data, a plurality of the constraining relationships each include multiple undetermined values; and identifying particular values for surface gradient movement at each of the first subset of locations and particular values for surface elevation movement at each of the second subset of surface locations based on determining a solution to the set of constraining relationships. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein the measurements of surface gradient movement include tiltmeter data from a tiltmeter array in the second area in the geographic region, wherein the measurements of surface elevation movement include Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data for the first area substantially outside a perimeter of the tiltmeter array. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising generating particular values of coefficients for terms of a plurality of polynomial elevation curves based on the received geodetic data, the particular values for surface gradient movement, and the particular values for surface elevation movement, wherein each of the plurality of polynomial elevation curves represents a temporal change in elevation of the geographic surface between neighboring pairs of the surface locations. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the particular values of the coefficients for the terms of the plurality of polynomial elevation curves correspond to a minimum curvature surface. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, further comprising generating a graphical representation of a geographical surface deformation in the first area and the second area based on the polynomial elevation curves. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the particular values of the coefficients correspond to a unique minimum curvature surface for the particular values for surface gradient movement, the particular values for surface elevation movement, and the measurements in the geodetic data. ### Claim 21 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein generating the set of constraining relationships comprises generating one or more equations that constrain the undetermined values of the surface gradient movement at one or more of the first subset of surface locations to values that result in a minimum surface curvature. ### Claim 22 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein generating the set of constraining relationships comprises generating one or more equations that constrain the undetermined values of the surface elevation movement at one or more pairs of the second subset of surface locations to a lowest order change in elevation. ### Claim 23 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising: generating a surface deformation model based on the received geodetic data, the particular values for surface gradient movement, and the particular values for surface elevation movement; and identifying temporal changes of the geographic region based on the surface deformation model. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23, further comprising at least one of: correlating the temporal changes with field activities associated with the geographic region; or analyzing subterranean geological features based on the temporal changes. ### Claim at position 12 -33. (canceled)