Automation of Aggregation and Displacement Operators for Cartographic Generalization in Social Networks Representation

The map generalization has always had subjective characteristic, which implies that the same scale maps derived from the same source map can result in different representations because these processes can be made by different cartographers. In addition, the evolution of computer technology needs a standardization of this process so that generated cartographic products will be always the same. This research deals with the application of generalization in the representation of social networks of social assistance. The nodes of this network are the social actors individuals, groups or institutions - working in a region and the linkages among them are the arches; these links are not physical. The focus of the study is the automation of the geometric operators aggregation and displacement acting on the point features, which are social actors. When there is an overlap between the social actors that have the same classification, they are aggregated generating a new symbol. But the displacement is used to solve the overlap between social actors from different classes. In order to do so, a program was developed to implement the generalization. The results are presented in this paper.