1 Estimating Positional Accuracy of Linear Features

Positional accuracy is considered as one of the main elements of spatial data quality. For linear features, it can be analyzed to horizontal position accuracy, vertical position accuracy and shape fidelity. In this paper, the assessment of linear features ’ positional accuracy due to data acquisition (digitization) and generalization is studied. For the study of the results of the above-mentioned cartographic processes, the change in horizontal position can be measured by displacement measures and the change of line shape can be evaluated through measures describing line character. In each phase, experimental analysis is conducted to identify the relationship between the amount of error and the shape of the cartographic line/segment. The analysis is based on the results of the methodology for the parametric description of the shape of cartographic lines and the segmentation of cartographic lines in homogeneous parts, developed by the authors. The linear features used in the experiment initially undergo the segmentation and line complexity identification procedures. Linear features segments are grouped into clusters with regard to their complexity. These groups, representing different degrees of complexity, are utilized for the estimation of the data acquisition and generalization error. 1