A Software Framework for the Automated Production of Schematic Maps Joao Mourinho 1 , Teresa Galvao 1 , Jo˜ ao Falc˜ ao e Cunha 1 , Fernando Vieira 2 , and Jose Pacheco 2 1 Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, 4200-465 Porto 2 OPT - Optimizacao e Planeamento de Transportes, 4200 Porto joaomourinho@fe.up.pt Abstract. Schematic Maps are mainly used for depicting transportation networks. They are generated through a schematization process where irrelevant details are eliminated and important details are emphasized. This process, being manually performed by teams of expert designers, is expensive and time consuming. Such manual execution is unsuitable for the production of schematic maps for location-based services or on- demand schematic maps, as near real-time and user-centered properties are needed. This work proposes GeneX, a framework that can support the automated generation of schematic maps. The framework and a new algorithms developed were able to completely eliminate erroneous map point placement, and to decrease by 33% the contention for map point placement, producing schematic maps without human intervention in soft real time. Keywords: Schematic Maps, Software Framework, Public Transportation. 1 Introduction Maps are part of the communicative process intended to communicate space in- formation: the producer of maps (the sender) communicates to the receiver the message (map). The making of maps was only possible through the use of sym- bols and abstraction (which serve as a language), as maps are mainly intended to communicate space information. Schematic maps have been increasingly used in response to the need of better and simpler maps to describe complex trans- port networks, and they take the abstraction of space to a higher level, reducing the amount of information in comparison with traditional maps. This apparent simplicity is achieved through a simplification process called “schematization process” where choices are made regarding the level of detail and simplification. A special type of schematic map, called spider map, has also appeared recently. It presents innovative features such as a spider structure to improve visual pre- sentation, user learning and spatial context communication. Schematic maps, by their inherent simplicity and symbolic meaning are good maps for being used in the transportation area as they are far more intuitive than conventional maps [1]. S. Nurcan (Ed.): CAiSE Forum 2011, LNBIP 107, pp. 64–78, 2012. c  Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012