Comparison of several methods for multi-scale DEM generalization in different landform areas

There are various landforms in real word and numerous methods proposed previously for DEM generalization. When use different methods to generalize a DEM, the results vary greatly. Therefore, in order to get a most proper method to implement the generalization, we need taking topographic information into consideration. This paper tested four methods widely used in DEM generalization and compared their performances in different landform areas. The results show the compound method delivered the best results among those algorithms. However, the four methods all have its advantages and disadvantages. Thus we can select the most proper one in different practical applications according to their different characteristics.