Publications Details
MAGENCO: A map generalization controller for Arc/Info
The Arc/Info GENERALIZE command implements the Douglas-Peucker algorithm, a well-regarded approach that preserves line ``character`` while reducing the number of points according to a tolerance parameter supplied by the user. The authors have developed an Arc Macro Language (AML) interface called MAGENCO that allows the user to browse workspaces, select a coverage, extract a sample from this coverage, then apply various tolerances to the sample. The results are shown in multiple display windows that are arranged around the original sample for quick visual comparison. The user may then return to the whole coverage and apply the chosen tolerance. They analyze the ergonomics of line simplification, explain the design (which includes an animated demonstration of the Douglas-Peucker algorithm), and discuss key points of the MAGENCO implementation.