Ruggedness Index

Background
Two methods are commonly cited for categorizing the ruggedness of terrain: 1) Relief 2) Surface area

Relief method
The method proposed by Riley et. al. is essentially a neighborhood operation: ABS( Focal maximum of DEM Focal minimum of DEM), where ABS is the absolute value to insure a positive relative difference.

Surface area method using raster data

This approach is based on the following article by Joseph Berry: http://www.innovativegis.com/basis/mapanalysis/topic11/topic11.htm This model has three steps: 1) dividing a slope map using the ArcSIE extension by 100, 2) converting slope to an angle using Arctan 3) calculating a surface area factor by taking the cosine of map 2 The output value from step 3 could be used directly as an index for ruggedness. There will be an inverse relationship between ruggedness and the grid value. Surface area could also be estimated by dividing the planimetric area of each grid cell by the output of step 3. This will not be as accurate as the surface area determined from a TIN. It is a quick way to get a close estimate, as an example, this area in southern New Mexico estimated surface area within 98% of a TIN:

Surface Area Factor model https://sharepoint.gru.wvu.edu/sites/digital_soils/DSM%20Tools/ArcGIS%20Models%20and %20Scripts/surface_area_for_9_2.tbx

Add the surface area toolbox Double-click the Surface Area factor model Enter your slope map, which needs to be in percent

Output will be the surface area factor map To calculate Surface Area Open the Divide Tool in the Math Toolbox Value 1 equals the planimetric area of one grid cell (x2), in this case 10m grid = 100m2 Value 2 is the Surface area factor map, the output of Cosine operation

Comparisons
When used as an index for ruggedness, the methods are interchangeable.

References
Riley, S.J., DeGloria, S.D., Elliot, R. 1999. A terrain ruggedness index that quantifies topographic heterogeneity. Intermountain journal of Sciences. 5, 23-27.