Converting and generalizing maps into compact Scalable Vector Graphics format

Vector formats for Internet, such as Flash and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), \nrepresent good solutions to deploy rapidly interactive and dynamic maps on Internet. \nHowever, without a good level of generalization, the size of vector web-maps can be \ntoo large. To remedy this situation, we present, in this paper, a software utility called \nSVG converter which converts and generalizes vector maps (ESRI shapefiles) into SVG \nformat. The conversion process is based on the combination of modified DouglasPeuker and dictionary based compression algorithms, and keeps the topology of \nreduced geographical features. The high rates of compression obtained with the SVG \nconverter tool demonstrate that this software utility produces compact and high quality \nweb-maps in SVG format. Consequently, the SVG converter application could easily be \nintegrated into cartographic web-applications to generate “on-the-fly” medium and \nsmall sizes maps.