Algorithms for compressing GPS trajectory data: an empirical evaluation

The massive volumes of trajectory data generated by inexpensive GPS devices have led to difficulties in processing, querying, transmitting and storing such data. To overcome these difficulties, a number of algorithms for compressing trajectory data have been proposed. These algorithms try to reduce the size of trajectory data, while preserving the quality of the information. We present results from a comprehensive empirical evaluation of many compression algorithms including Douglas-Peucker Algorithm, Bellman's Algorithm, STTrace Algorithm and Opening Window Algorithms. Our empirical study uses different types of real-world data such as pedestrian, vehicle and multimodal trajectories. The algorithms are compared using several criteria including execution times and the errors caused by compressing spatio-temporal information, across numerous real-world datasets and various error metrics.