Estimation of the positional uncertainty in line simplification in GIS

This paper presents a new model for handling positional uncertainty in the process of line simplification. It considers that positional uncertainty in a simplified line is caused by (a) positional uncertainty in an initial line propagated through the process and (b) a deviation of the simplified line from the initial line. In order to describe the uncertainty in the simplified line, the maximum distance is defined as a measure. This measure is further adopted to determine parameters to a line simplification algorithm. Therefore, this model makes a step forward in the implementation of an uncertainty indicator for the line simplification. As compared existing models, the proposed uncertainty model in this paper is more comprehensive in uncertainty assessment for line simplification.