Generalisation operators

This chapter summarises cartographic generalisation operators used to generalise geospatial data. It includes a review of recent approaches that have been tested or implemented to generalise networks, points, or groups. Emphasis is placed on recent advances that permit additional flexibility to tailor generalisation processing in particular geographic contexts, and to permit more advanced types of reasoning about spatial conflicts, preservation of specific feature characteristics, and local variations in geometry, content and enriched attribution. Rather than an exhaustive review of generalisation operators, the chapter devotes more attention to operators associated with network generalisation, which illustrates well the logic behind map generalisation developments. Three case studies demonstrate the application of operators to road thinning, to river network and braid pruning, and to hierarchical point elimination. The chapter closes with some summary comments and future directions.