1. A computer-implemented method for determining strain characteristics in a vicinity of a point of interest w={x w , y w } T in two parametric dimensions embedded in a two or three dimensional space, wherein the point of interest w is part of a deformable domain or body having a plurality of features which may be represented as a node pattern of n nodes, the method comprising: receiving a first set of captured data of a plurality of features and representing the plurality of features by nodes indexed by i or j in the domain in an un-deformed configuration; receiving a second set of captured data of the plurality of features represented by nodes i,j in the domain in a deformed configuration; measuring engineering strains e i,j between a plurality of node combinations in the vicinity of w to produce e w ={e 21 , e 31 ,. .. e 42. .. , e n(n-1) } T ; and applying an approximation or interpolation to the engineering strains e i,j to approximate strain ε h in the vicinity of w.