Automated production of national topographic map in IGN-Spain
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Maldonado, A.; 2Vaquero, P.A.; 3de Las Cuevas, A.; 4Garcia, J.; 5Gonzalez Matesanz, J.
1INSTITUTO GEOGRAFICO NACIONAL Email: amaldonado@fomento.es
2INSTITUTO GEOGRAFICO NACIONAL Email: pavaquero@fomento.es
3INSTITUTO GEOGRAFICO NACIONAL Email: adelascuevas@fomento.es
4INSTITUTO GEOGRAFICO NACIONAL Email: fjgarcia@fomento.es
5INSTITUTO GEOGRAFICO NACIONAL Email: fjgmatesanz@fomento.es
Abstract
This paper reports the development of a tool for automated production of the National Topographic Map of Spain at scale of 1:25k (MTN25) from a continuous topographic database, the National Topographic Database (BTN25), i.e., from a 1:25k Oracle database. To meet this goal, a unique tool that integrates all the processes was required. The FME environment was chosen as an integrating tool since there is a good knowledge of this software by IGN cartographers. Furthermore, it allows us to perform all operations needed (Extract-Transform-Load). The quality of this process is guaranteed by reviewing the results with the controls and standards used in the current production process. The IGN is the national mapping agency of Spain responsible for the production, maintenance and updating of, among others, the map series 1: 25k. This cartographic series consists of more than 4100 sheets of hard copy maps, covering an area of 5’ in latitude by 10’ in longitude (about 12 500 ha). The need to speed up production to keep the information updated, upcoming current high quality standards, has forced to IGN, since mid-2013, to develop an automated tool. This development replaces the set of manual, semi-automated and automated techniques currently used in MTN25 production, according to the technological changes carried out in the cartographic production workflows of our agency in recent years. Through this new tool, a unique FME process which is divided into different sequential threads for the different topics, a CAD-file is obtained. This file is conceived to be the final product (downloads, Webmap viewers and Web services) or to be a hard copy map through a manual mini-edition. Nowadays, the source is an Oracle database (BTN25) and the output is a MicroStation DGN-file, but it could be another one (GeoMedia, Adobe Illustrator or ArcGIS files). In this way, it is possible to reduce the production time, sacrificing aesthetic quality of the current map. This goal fulfils the users requirements, who prefer a more updated product, albeit at the expense of a small loss this final aesthetic quality. Currently, the automated map is being implemented and some problems are being detected, therefore the tool is being improved. Obtaining automated map represents a breakthrough for two reasons. The first, because it accelerates the process of obtaining the map from BTN25, and provides user recently updated mapping information. And second, it allows us to redirect efforts, currently assigned to editing processes, to BTN25 continuous updating and automation processes. In the future, we hope to apply these processes to the generalization of our basic cartography (MTN25) to other scales that have been assigned to IGN (1: 50k or 1: 200k). In line with other NMAs, we hope to implement automated generalization within our production lines and to design a multiple representation database (MRDB) that allows us to manage all our topographic databases and the cartographic products that are extracted from them, by model and cartographic generalization. These expectations are based on experience gained in the development of the FME-tools explained in this article, and on experience in national topographic map production for many years by IGN cartographers.
Keywords
automated cartography; cartographic edition; generalization