Spatial Conflict Resolution in a Multi-Agent Process by the Use of a Snake Model

In automatic map compilation, both the scale reduction and the geometric transformation of map features may give rise to spatial conflicts. Several generalization approaches have been established to resolve this problem, mainly for the displacement operator. This paper proposes one such approach that is based on the snake model and multiple agents. It focuses on the resolution of various spatial conflicts that emerge when generalizing the rural areas of medium density. In this approach, the map features are converted into map agent, object agent, group agent, and conflicting agent, and the spatial relationships between these features are managed by an auxiliary relationship agent. Each agent is assigned with tasks accordingly, and all agents collaborate with each other to complete the generalization. The snake-based algorithm is applied in the conflicting agent when it identifies a certain configuration. The experimental results indicate that the approach proposed in this paper can obtain good results.