Simplify
Fewer vertices, with the shape kept.
These tools remove vertices from a line or polygon while keeping it within a set tolerance, by the Douglas-Peucker or Visvalingam method, and report the largest deviation. Developers and cartographers use them to shrink GPS tracks and boundaries for faster maps. Start with Douglas-Peucker for a distance tolerance. The pitfall is simplifying so hard that edges cross; turn on the option that prevents it.
I want to thin out a track or boundary to a distance tolerance
- Simplify a line or polygon (Douglas-Peucker)
Removes vertices from a line or polygon while keeping every removed vertex within a distance tolerance of the simplified geodesic edges, optionally without letting edges cross, and reports the largest deviation.
I want to cut a shape down to a set number of vertices
- Simplify a line or polygon (Visvalingam)
Removes the vertices that make the smallest triangles with their neighbors, down to an area threshold or a target number of vertices, optionally without letting edges cross, and reports the largest deviation.