Multi-representation databases (MRDBs) are used in several geographical information system applications for different purposes. MRDBs are mainly obtained through model and cartographic generalizations. Simplification is the essential operator of cartographic generalization, and streams and lakes are essential features in hydrography. In this study, a new algorithm was developed for the simplification of streams and lakes. In this algorithm, deviation angles and error bands are used to determine the characteristic vertices and the planimetric accuracy of the features, respectively. The algorithm was tested using a high-resolution national hydrography dataset of Pomme de Terre, a sub-basin in the USA. To assess the performance of the new algorithm, the Bend Simplify and Douglas-Peucker algorithms, the medium-resolution hydrography dataset of the sub-basin, and Töpfer’s radical law were used. For quantitative analysis, the vertex numbers, the lengths, and the sinuosity values were computed. Consequently, it was shown that the new algorithm was able to meet the main requirements (i.e., accuracy, legibility and aesthetics, and storage).

Wireless communication networks offer subscribers the possibilities of free mobility and access to information anywhere at any time. Therefore, electromagnetic coverage calculations are important for wireless mobile communication systems, especially in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). Before any propagation computation is performed, modeling of indoor radio wave propagation needs accurate geographical information in order to avoid the interruption of data transmissions. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial interpolation techniques are very efficient for performing indoor radio wave propagation modeling. This paper describes the spatial interpolation of electromagnetic field measurements using a feed-forward back-propagation neural network programmed as a tool in GIS. The accuracy of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and geostatistical Kriging were compared by adjusting procedures. The feedforward back-propagation ANN provides adequate accuracy for spatial interpolation, but the predictions of Kriging interpolation are more accurate than the selected ANN. The proposed GIS ensures indoor radio wave propagation model and electromagnetic coverage, the number, position and transmitter power of access points and electromagnetic radiation level. Pollution analysis in a given propagation environment was done and it was demonstrated that WLAN (2.4 GHz) electromagnetic coverage does not lead to any electromagnetic pollution due to the low power levels used. Example interpolated electromagnetic field values for WLAN system in a building of Yildiz Technical University, Turkey, were generated using the selected network architectures to illustrate the results with an ANN.

The extraction of artificial and natural features using light detection and ranging (Lidar) data is a fundamental task in many fields of research for environmental science. In this study, the possibility of using self-organising maps (SOM), which is an unsupervised artificial neural network classification method to extract the bare earth surface and features from airborne Lidar data, was investigated for two different urban areas. The effect of the enlargement of the study area was analysed using the proposed approach. The appropriate weights of SOM inputs, which are 3D coordinates and intensity, obtained from a Lidar point cloud were determined by using Pearson's chi-squared independence test. The weighted SOM feature extraction performance was better than that of the unweighted SOM. The filtering results of SOM to separate ground and non-ground data were also compared with those obtained by the adaptive TIN filtering algorithm. Most of the non-ground features could be removed by the weighted SOM.