Selection of streets based on mesh density for digital map generalization

This paper proposes a novel approach of selective omission for streets based on mesh density. For meshes with density over threshold, the largest density meshes are taken out by turns and one road segment of them is eliminated. Meanwhile the taken mesh is merged with the adjacent mesh at a time. Road segment to be eliminated is the most unimportant in all segments on the boundary of this mesh according to the parameters reflecting the importance of road segments. In this study, for the different type meshes, their thresholds are different, which can preserve the density difference. The process of eliminating road segments and merging meshes would ensure the network connectivity. This proposed approach considers topological, geometric and semantic properties of the street network. A street network is selectively eliminated employing this approach, and the results of selection achieve better effects.