A multi-resolution model of vector map data for rapid transmission over the Internet

The rapid transmission of vector map data over the Internet is becoming a bottleneck of spatial data delivery and visualization in web-based environment because of increasing data amount and limited network bandwidth. In order to improve the transmission performance of vector map data over the Internet, a multi-resolution model of vector map data is proposed, which constructs multiple-resolution representations of vector map data on-line prior to transmission with a vertex decimation method on the server side. The vertex decimation method was developed to extract various resolutions of vector map data on-line, and data reconstruction solution was developed to recover the original vector map data from a low-resolution one on the client side. Secondly, rules of the vertex decimation method are defined to overcome self-intersections and inconsistent topology in the multi-resolution model and corresponding algorithm was developed to test the performance and feasibility of the multi-resolution model for rapid transmission over the Internet. Experimental results reveal that the multi-resolution model of vector map data significantly improves the transmission time and decreases data amount of spatial data over the Internet.