Using QGIS Valmiera (MapInfo and other software is also available)
Is there a way to convert a polyline with multiple segments into a single line? I.e. by taking the first point and the last point of the polyline and simply connecting the two.
Furthermore, is this possible to be done under a condition that say the polyline is straight enough to be considered a single line. For example if polyline is within a certain distance of the line connecting the start and the end point.
The context is I'm importing into a hydraulics software package with a pipe limit and polylines are disaggregated in this software and as a result count for thousands of pipes rather than hundreds despite being largely straight.
Best Answer
Simplify didn't do it for me. What did what I wanted (a polyline of one segment) was: Vector->Geoprocessing Tools->Dissolve.