Author Description

This monograph is part of the Resource Publications in Geography Series of the Association of American Geographers. It describes the many issues & problems associated with representing cartographic features on maps as the scale of the map changes. The first two chapters of the book discuss the graphic problems associated with scale change & give a history of map generalization. A set of maps, at different scales, is used to illustrate the conceptual & technical problems of generalization. The third chapter presents a conceptual model for the cartographic generalization process within a digital environment. The generalization process described answers the questions why we generalize, when to generalize & how to generalize. The fourth & fifth chapters identify & describe the basic operators & algorithms used in map generalization for both the vector & raster data models of feature representation. The final chapter reviews current activities & future research directions including the application of expert systems, neural networks & advanced user interfaces for developing a newer generation of generalization software.