Road Network Generalization Based on Connection Analysis

Abstract

Road network generalization aims to simplify the representation of road networks by reducing details, while maintaining network connectivity and overall characteristics. This paper presents a method to select salient roads based on connection analysis. The number of connections is counted at each junction, which acts as a parameter indicating the association between salient roads. Several strategies are proposed to combine connection criterion with road length and road attributes (when available), so as to order roads corresponding to their relative importance in road network generalization. A case study shows that connection criterion is favored for maintaining the density differences in road network, and the combined criteria creates more reasonable results than only length criterion.