An evaluation of the sinuosity effect on visualization of RDP simplified maps: an empirical study

The process of line simplification consists of extracting a subset of points whose trend approximates the original line according to a more or less significant tolerance. In spite of the apparent straightforwardness of this concept, the process meant to accomplish this task may result very complex. The goal of the research we are carrying out is to contribute to the automation of the simplification process for visualization purposes by investigating what and how specific map and system properties affect it. To this aim, users' capability to recognize the differences between a map and a simplified version of it, may represent a key factor in evaluating how much a map can be automatically simplified preserving its visual content in terms of features and relationships. In this paper we illustrate the results collected through an empirical experimental study in which we have focused our observation on line sinuosity and users' perception related to its changes. Results processed by this study demonstrate that the sinuosity is a relevant factor, whose management may contribute to automate the simplification process for visualization purposes.

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