Tools > Simplify Way

Keyboard shortcut: Shift+Y

Reduce the number of nodes in a way, but keep the general shape.

Implementation details

After simplification, all of the deleted nodes will be closer than 3 m to the simplified way. In other words, the old and the new way will never be more than 3 m apart.

The tool uses the ​Ramer–Douglas–Peucker algorithm for way simplification, but makes sure that tagged nodes and nodes with more than one parent way are not deleted.

Advanced Preferences

You can configure the distance between two nodes in the advanced preferences (simplify-way.max-error, in meters, default value is 3). A lower threshold makes the simplification less aggressive.

See also

• SimplifyArea plugin - despite the name, also simplifies ways. Uses a different algorithm and has more parameters for tuning. In particular for nodes A, B, C the node B is not deleted unless
  • area of the triangle ABC is lower than 5 m²
  • distance of B to the line AC is lower than 3 m
  • angle ABC doesn't deviate more than 10° from 180°
• Distribute Nodes

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REQUEST FOR HELP/SUPPORT: I cannot find the "simplify way" option in "Advanced Preferences" to change the value to something other than the default 3m as described on this page. Thank you