A knowledge-based system for automated vectorization

There is a growing interest from various fields of studies in geographic information systems (GIS) which promotes efficient storage and retrieval of geographic information. The development of automated vectorizing system, an input method for GIS, is of extreme importance due to the fact that this part of constructing a GIS has been time consuming. Most vectorizing systems require users to set parameters as appropriately as possible to the map image at hand, but it is quite difficult for a novice to adjust the parameters accurately. We propose an automated vectorizing system based on a knowledge base rendering an appropriate choice of the parameters. Each rule in the knowledge base is characterized by the type of maps, resolution, line width, slope and protrusion. Experimental results with various map evince the proposed system to be superior in terms of performance and convenience.