Is there a straightforward method to create a path which results as a "smoothed line" through a set of fixed points? By this I mean in the same way that anyone can do with any charting program, such as in this MS Excel example:

http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/res/gt/lwr-cap14b.gif

I do realize that svg supports a Bezier curve function, but I would not know how to coax it into getting the results I want.

How are you getting your points on the canvas in Inkscape? The best way that I can think of is to use the bezier tool to click once for each point - you don't need to drag or adjust handles - press enter when you are done, and select a stroke and no fill if it is just a line -ask if you don't know how to do this - then, while it (the line)is still selected press N (node tool) ctrl-a (select all nodes) shift-s (convert all nodes to smooth nodes) shift-y and shift-a do slightly different things but are quite similar.

I am using an Excel spreadsheet to generate svg code for a series of points placed at precisely calculated x-y locations. I insert this code into the file which I edit with Inkscape. The line is supposed to represent a geodesic path that is projected onto a flat map. Depending on how finely I space the points (1 degree or less?) there could potentially be hundreds of points.

I don't have prior experience with the Inkscape functions that you're recommending, but I'll try experimenting with your instructions.

Thanks for responding -- I'd be happy to hear more ideas if you have them.

Okay, I worked through your instructions which demonstrated that this is indeed the effect I want. I think now all I have to do is to make my Excel sheet build an svg path for my string of preset coordinates, then once I have it in Inkscape, I can use the node tool to finesse it. I'll let you know if I run up against any unexpected difficulties. Thanks again.

I am using an Excel spreadsheet to generate svg code for a series of points...

I'm not sure I quite understand how this works, but if you can generate the points, couldn't you also write the code to make the nodes smooth and draw the line?

AstroStudio wrote:I think now all I have to do is to make my Excel sheet build an svg path for my string of preset coordinates, (…)

Maybe of interest:

• an old (and unsupported) extension to plot a graph from csv data file
• an earlier forum topic: Paths created by tables
• and yet another forum topic: SVG graphics - perl scripts