Simplification des cartes géographiques par minimisation de la déformation locale

In cartography, the geographic regions are usually represented using regular dense maps corresponding to heights values associated with the nodes of a regular grid of R². The simplification of such maps is an absolute requirement in order to make storage, simulation and display possible. In this Note, we propose a new simplification method based on a measure of the local deformation of the surface. The latter allows, in particular, minimization of the approximation error during the simplification. A numerical example is provided to emphasize the efficiency of this approach. To cite this article: P.J. Frey, H. Borouchaki, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 334 (2002) 227–232.