Combining topological simplification and topology preserving compression for 2D vector fields

Topological simplification techniques and topology preserving compression approaches for 2D vector fields have been developed quite independently of each other. In this paper we propose a combination of both approaches: a vector field should be compressed in such a way that its important topological features (both critical points and separatrices) are preserved while its unimportant features are allowed to collapse and disappear. To do so, a number of new solutions and modifications of pre-existing algorithms are presented. We apply the approach to a flow data set, which is both large and topologically complex, and achieve significant compression ratios there.