This project is designed to test new methods for selecting and displaying aeronautical chart data. The basis for this system is a cognitive model of object importance.
Importance is calculated from a rating system derived from spatial interaction theory.
Objects are assigned an initial value and a distance decay function. The relative importance of each object depends upon the value of the distance decay function at a given distance. The distance, R , can be changed to produce different orderings of the relative importance of objects. The fundamental innovation of this method is that it evaluates the relative importance of objects of different classes, as well as those within a class. Conventional systems of map generalization only analytically evaluate the relative importance of features within a single class.