Design and Experience of Generalization Tools

While research is underway at ESRI on solutions for adaptive and contextual generalization, the development of bulk generalization tools under the geoprocessing framework in ArcGIS has continued. One of the essential design aspects is to extend and redefine the scope of automation. Another is how to support the evaluation and further optimization of the output. It is obviously important to use the most effective approaches and techniques to maximize the automation, so the new tools take advantage of the topology functions and TIN functions available in ArcGIS to preserve shared geometry and to derive generalized features. It is equally important that the tools provide feedback about the quality of the automated output, together with hints and tips to support further processing to complete the generalization tasks and hence increase productivity. This paper introduces the existing and upcoming generalization tools, discusses major design decisions, and illustrates how these tools, along with other geoprocessing tools, can be used in various scenarios for model generalization and for cartographic generalization. It covers how the data can be generalized, but also the inspection and follow-up processes.