Snakes: a technique for line smoothing and displacement in map generalisation

Abstract: Line smoothing in map generalisation is commonly seen as a comparatively simple operation. In this paper, however, the snakes model will be examined as a basic technique with respect to combined operations of displacement and smoothing. For line smoothing, two different snake models and their parametrisation with curvature controlled and constant parameters are examined. Further the snakes model for smoothing will be combined with the already known displacement model. Two combined methods will be proposed, the alternation of algorithms and a linear combination of the snakes equation systems, of which the former shows more flexibility. Selected test examples are illustrated and discussed, followed by an assessment of the models.