INTERACTIVE EXPERT EDITING SYSTEM

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR LABELING MAPS RE QUIRES THE PRECISE MODELING OF CARTOGRAPHER'S COMPETENCE WITHIN THE COMPUTER. THIS MODEL CAN BE LARGELY SUBDIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS: GENERALLY ACCEPTED CARTOGRAPHIC RULES, PROJECT SPECIFIC PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS, AND A SYSTEM OF HEURISTICS BASED ON "RULES OF THUMB." RELATIVELY SIMPLE PROGRAMS YIELD ACCEPTABLE RESULTS FOR SIMPLE CASES. HOW EVER, AS MORE CARTOGRAPHIC JUDGEMENT IS REQUIRED FOR COMPLEXPROBLEMS, COMPUTER SOLUTIONS UTILIZING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIG ENCE REQUIRE MORE ITERATIONS AND PRODUCE LESS THAN OPTIMAL RESULTS. IDENTIFICATION OF CONFLICT STATES AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS BECOMES INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT. HOWEVER, THE CARTOGRAPHER SUPPORTED BY AN INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC SYSTEM DOES THIS ACCURATELY AND RAPIDLY. DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTERACTIVE EXPERT EDITING SYSTEM CAPABLE OF IDENTIFYING PLACEMENT CONFLICTS AND PERMITING HUMAN SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE RULES TO RESOLVE PLACEMENT CONFLICTS WILL SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE MAP COMPILATION TIME. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS OF A RU LE-BASED INTERACTIVE INTERFACE FOR AUTOMATED FEATURE NAME PLACEMENT ON MAPS. AN EVALUATION OF THE COMPLEXITY AND AND PERFORMANCE OF THE INTERFACE WILL BE COMPLETED. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS WILL RESULT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE EXPERT EDITING SYSTEM. INNOVATIVE IMPROVEMENTS IN CHART AND MAP PREPARATION WILL BE ACHIEVED FOR NOAA AND THE BUREAU OF THE CENSUS. THE POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATION AS DESCRIBED BY THE AWARDEE: THE INTERACTIVE EXPERT EDITING SUBSYSTEM WILL REDUCE THE LABOR-INTENSIVE TASK OF PLACING LABELS ON FEATURES SUCH THAT THEY MEET CARTOGRAPHIC STANDARDS. THE PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT IN AUTOMATED MAP MAKING SHOULD MAKE THE SUBSYSTEM A VALUABLE COMMERCIAL PRODUCT.