Flatesøk

Flatesøk, a Norwegian compound, translates roughly to "search for flat surfaces" or "surface search." It is not a single, fixed concept but a term used in several domains to describe locating flat or planar features.

In geography and GIS, flatesøk refers to methods for identifying flat terrain or planimetric surfaces within digital elevation data. Practically this involves calculating slopes, curvatures, or fitting planes to point sets (for example via least-squares or RANSAC) to delineate flat areas. Applications include urban planning, land-use analysis, and flood risk assessment, where flat areas may influence drainage or construction suitability.

In the real estate and housing context, flatesøk is used colloquially to describe the search for flats or apartments. Websites and apps may offer filters for location, price, and size, enabling users to identify available residential units that fit their needs.

In computer vision and 3D modelling, flatesøk describes plane detection in 3D data, such as point clouds or meshes. Typical approaches include RANSAC-based plane fitting, Hough transforms, or region-growing algorithms to identify multiple planar surfaces. This capability supports scene understanding, reverse engineering, and robotics.

Because the term spans multiple disciplines, its precise meaning depends on context. See also plane detection, plane fitting, and GIS terrain analysis.