A mathematical evaluation of simplification algorithms (in computer cartography).

A major objective in computer cartography has been the creation of accurate representations of naturally-occurring lines such as rivers, coastlines, and contours. The coordinate data to represent these lines is commonly gathered with digitizers. As a result, the cartographic community has developed an array of line simplification algorithms to eliminate the superfluous data captured when digitizing. By applying two measures of displacement between a digitized line and its simplification, four algorithms have been evaluated. The results indicate that, of the four, the Douglas-Peucker routine produces less displacement between a line and its simplification. -from Author