A technique for the removal of outliers during a computerised map generalisation process

This paper describes a procedure for the automatic generalisation of ''outlier polygons'' within a map. A project undertaken by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) for the European Commission (EC) has offered the opportunity to develop this procedure with the intention of adopting it for future generalisation of the ITE Land Cover map (LCMGB). This procedure is a component part of a wider development that uses both automated and semi-automated GIS techniques. This paper describes the raster-based procedure, its effects on patch patterns in a landscape and briefly, how the procedure is used within an overall mapgeneralisation process. The wider development is described in Brown and Fuller (1995 in press).