AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 1 Generalisation and The AGENT Project Sylvie Lamy IGN With much help from the AGENT partners (Laser-Scan, Zurich, Edinburgh, INPG)

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 2 Cartography and Generalization l Generalisation = deriving smaller scale mapping from more detailed mapping or detailed source data l Science and art of exaggerating that which is important, and removing irrelevant detail that would clutter and confuse IGN 1:25,000 IGN 1:100,000IGN 1:250,000

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 3 Automated Generalisation l Still need paper products at different scales l Increasingly important for “mapping on demand“, particularly internet web mapping AGENT = Automated GEneralization New Technology

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 4 What Is an Agent ??? l Real or virtual entity, e.g. active software l Evolves in an environment l Is able to perceive and act in this environment l Can communicate with other agents l Exhibits, as a consequence of the above, an autonomous behaviour l Reactive (simple) or cognitive (more complex) l Multi-agent systems (MAS) have collaborative global goals as well as individual local goals

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 5 Micro-agents are Individual Features e.g. a Building

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 6 Building Constraints  Size constraint: building should have a minimum size to be legible. This size depends on scale and symbol thresholds  Width constraint: The width within a building should be wide enough to avoid conflict  Accuracy constraint: The absolute position of a building should be preserved as much as possible  Orientation constraint: The orientation of a building should be preserved

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 7 From Constraints to Goals  I should be big enough  I should be wide enough  I should try to preserve my shape  I should not be too far from my initial position  I should try to preserve my original orientation

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 8 Goals  Size: > 300m2  Internal width: > 20m  Hausdorff dist:< 20m (from initial position)  Main orientation:  [initial-main_orient - 0.1, initial-main_orient + 0.1]

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 9 Analysis of a Building

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 10 Finding an Acceptable Solution

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 11 Agent Base Class - State Diagram start_state initialize characterize evaluate propose trigger conclude start_state if hapiness is worse, act_best_plans(plans) Actions Constraints Measures

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 12 Meso-agent - Coordinating l Ensure minimum distance l Keep alignment l Keep share relationships l... l Displace l Amalgamate l Eliminate l... Constraints / Goals Actions

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 13 Why Meso-agents ? Building Generalization Needs Knowledge of Neighbours © IGN

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 14 Demonstrators from the AGENT project P2 Internet access P1 Multi-scale Production Specifications contained within database 1:10K Data Transportation Classes: Symbology: Constraints: proximity accuracy MULTI-AGENT SYSTEM Gothic Database HardcopyExport 1:50K Derived Topographic Mapping On-demand Transportation Mapping

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 15 The AGENT Project - Partners EC funding ESPRIT Institut Geographique National (leader) Laser-Scan Ltd. University of Zurich University of Edinburgh Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 16 AGENT Project l 21 man years over 3 year period l Aims of research:  Better algorithms  Better measures  Better constraints  Better decisions via multi-agent systems l Results are reports, prototype implementation, and 2 demonstrators

AGENT (Esprit 24939) 5th GIS-EC WS June99 17 Current Status of Project l About half-way, and on schedule l Independent generalisation (micro-agents) is implemented and being refined l Contextual generalisation (meso-agents) is being developed now l Strategic generalisation (macro-agents) is next year