<p>The simplest is triangle <a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~quake/triangle.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~quake/triangle.html</a> which is providing lib form many other more advanced packages. You can create poly file and create "holes/islands" in grid etc. Easy to make simple grids.
Another more advanced / gui is xmgredit where you can create/modify grids.
Blue kenue  etc.. 
use the force luke, do a google and it will popup many other packages,
I just wrote a few which are free and for 2D ocean applications.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-23T08:01:46.810Z
I don't know much about it, but [ITAPS](http://www.itaps.org/applications/climate.html) looks like it might be able to do similar things.
naught101
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-23T07:14:32.690Z
2014-04-24T17:58:04.803Z
2014-04-24T17:58:04.803Z
ivica
<p>My first grid generation was using SMS (<a href="http://www.aquaveo.com/software/sms-surface-water-modeling-system-introduction" rel="nofollow">http://www.aquaveo.com/software/sms-surface-water-modeling-system-introduction</a>). That software is proprietary and it used to be cumbersome to get it to do what you needed sometimes. It also provides metrics for grid quality.</p>

<p>The tool that I am more familiar with is BatTri. It was developed by Ata Bilgili and Keston Smith and is a graphical Matlab interface to the C language two-dimensional quality grid generator Triangle developed by Jonathan Richard Shewchuk. They explain the code in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098300405001950" rel="nofollow">http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098300405001950</a>. They include several quality checks that I have found quite useful.</p>

<p>I have just found this website (<a href="http://www.robertschneiders.de/meshgeneration/software.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.robertschneiders.de/meshgeneration/software.html</a>) that lists a lot of mesh generation software. Most of them I have never heard of or know anything about. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-24T18:15:32.950Z
2014-04-24T18:15:32.950Z
arkaia
<p>Generating finite element/volume grids is tricky for ocean models, especially when you are dealing with complex coastlines. What are the more common tools to create the grids and to check the quality (e.g., minimum angles, wave propagation constraints) of it?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-23T02:52:20.837Z
Grids for what?  Modelling?  Geostatistics?  And how do you want to check the quality?  On what criteria?  I think the question is not very clear as it stands now.
gerrit
<oceanography><models>
What tools are available to build unstructured grids for ocean models?
arkaia
# What tools are available to build unstructured grids for ocean models?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-04-23)

Generating finite element/volume grids is tricky for ocean models, especially when you are dealing with complex coastlines. What are the more common tools to create the grids and to check the quality (e.g., minimum angles, wave propagation constraints) of it?

**Tags:** oceanography, models

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Grids for what?  Modelling?  Geostatistics?  And how do you want to check the quality?  On what criteria?  I think the question is not very clear as it stands now.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-04-23. Score: 4

The simplest is triangle <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~quake/triangle.html> which is providing lib form many other more advanced packages. You can create poly file and create "holes/islands" in grid etc. Easy to make simple grids.
Another more advanced / gui is xmgredit where you can create/modify grids.
Blue kenue etc..
use the force luke, do a google and it will popup many other packages,
I just wrote a few which are free and for 2D ocean applications.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I don't know much about it, but [ITAPS](http://www.itaps.org/applications/climate.html) looks like it might be able to do similar things.  

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### Answer by username_0 on 2014-04-24. Score: 2

My first grid generation was using SMS (<http://www.aquaveo.com/software/sms-surface-water-modeling-system-introduction>). That software is proprietary and it used to be cumbersome to get it to do what you needed sometimes. It also provides metrics for grid quality.

The tool that I am more familiar with is BatTri. It was developed by Ata Bilgili and Keston Smith and is a graphical Matlab interface to the C language two-dimensional quality grid generator Triangle developed by Jonathan Richard Shewchuk. They explain the code in <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098300405001950>. They include several quality checks that I have found quite useful.

I have just found this website (<http://www.robertschneiders.de/meshgeneration/software.html>) that lists a lot of mesh generation software. Most of them I have never heard of or know anything about.


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