The plural of anecdote is data
dp-simplify
The dp-simplify
program acts to simplify
polyline data using the algorithm of Douglas-Peucker.
The program reads files containing the polyline’s vertices
(specified as coordinate-pairs, separated by whitespace,
one pair to a line), removes vertices up to a user-specified
tolerance, and writes the simplified vertex-set in same
format as the input.
Douglas-Peucker polyline simplification can result in a huge reduction in the number of vertices, saving storage and subsequent processing costs. Applications include data-reduction, cartography and the creation of client-side image maps.
The implementation of the Douglas-Peucker algorithm is largely based on that by Dan Sunday (cheers Dan).