The Semiology of Silhouettes and related terms:
The Meaning of Silhouettes
© the various contributors

It is always helpful to distinguish between CONCEPT, FUNCTION, RELATIONSHIPS and FORM. 

It might be helpful to initially focus on concept and function, i.e. on the nature of WHAT is being defined since there are clearly many acceptable ways of depicting or rendering them.  It would also be helpful if we could focus on WHY and WHEN such an entity is used. 

We can then look at HOW such an entity may be manually/automatically abstracted and rendered since this takes us outside the realms of scientific considerations into the world of art, game development etc.

• John Whelan and Mahes Visvalingam (Aug 02) - the value of such a distinction.
• Mahes Visvalingam          (foreword)   -  background
• Alex Wolodtschenko       (4 Sep 02)   -  usage in cartography
• Katherine Courtney         (4 Sep 02)   -  usage by silhouette cutters
• Mahes Visvalingam        (17 Sep 02)   -  justification and proposals

Opposing views:

• Eric Haines                   15 Sep 2002  -  NPAR definitions