@@ -23,16 +23,21 @@ Obviously, our little web map doesn't need to be quite this precise enough to se
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@@ -23,16 +23,21 @@ Obviously, our little web map doesn't need to be quite this precise enough to se
MapShaper is available as a [Node.js-based CLI](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mapshaper), but it's easiest to use through its simple, free web interface that processes everything in-browser.
MapShaper is available as a [Node.js-based CLI](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mapshaper), but it's easiest to use through its simple, free web interface that processes everything in-browser.
Choose "Simplify" from the top toolbar. You can play around with what algorithm works best, but I'd recommend just going with "Visvalingam / effective area".
Choose "Simplify" from the top toolbar. You can play around with what algorithm works best, but I'd recommend just going with "Visvalingam / effective area".
This will give you a slider that you can use to visually find the highest acceptable level of simplification. The percentage shown by the slider is the percentage of points retained — so a rough proxy for file size. If you find this a little arbitrary, you could open the console and run the [`-simplify` command](https://github.com/mbloch/mapshaper/wiki/Command-Reference#-simplify) with its `interval=` option, which lets you specify a tolerance in meters (presumably that means square meters for Visvalingam) or latitude/longitude degrees.
This will give you a slider that you can use to visually find the highest acceptable level of simplification. The percentage shown by the slider is the percentage of points retained — so a rough proxy for file size. If you find this a little arbitrary, you could open the console and run the [`-simplify` command](https://github.com/mbloch/mapshaper/wiki/Command-Reference#-simplify) with its `interval=` option, which lets you specify a tolerance in meters (presumably that means square meters for Visvalingam) or latitude/longitude degrees.
