Knowledge acquisition for cartographic generalization: experimental methods

Although research efforts in the area of digital cartographic generalization made excellent progress during the period 1965-80, work has slowed over the past 5 years. Most of the initial progress resulted from activity in the development of algorithms as well as attempts to analyze both the geometric and perceptual quality of those algorithms. Recent attempts at the development of a more comprehensive approach for generalizing map features have not, for the most part, been successful. This is a result, in part, of a lack of procedural information - or knowledge - on generalization. This chapter will discuss general issues of knowledge acquisition. This is followed by a review of potential sources of both geometric and procedural knowledge involving existing rule bases, geocoding experiments, and user-interface design. -from Author