1. A method for representing cartographic data in a computer-based system, comprising: providing a cartographic database containing a sequence of latitude and longitude data points indicating locations along a geographic feature, wherein the sequence of latitude and longitude data points provide a data point representation of the geographic feature; using the latitude and longitude data points to generate a parameterized function representing the geographic feature; computing a plurality of wavelet coefficients from said parameterized function representing the geographic feature, wherein said wavelet coefficients obtained with a wavelet, wherein said wavelet being one of a family of functions having a form ψ ab ⁡ ( x ) =  a  - 1 / 2 ⁢ ψ ⁡ ( x - b a ) , wherein ψ ab (x) is called a mother wavelet, a is called a dilation parameter, b is called a translation parameter, and x is an independent variable, wherein said computing the wavelet coefficients includes applying a wavelet transform to said parameterized function defined by the data points representing the geographic feature; assigning each of the computed wavelet coefficients to at least one of a plurality of display scales for a map display; indexing the wavelet coefficients by the assigned display scales for the map display; and after said step of computing, storing the wavelet coefficients in a computer-usable database on a physical storage medium to provide a wavelet-based representation of the geographic feature, wherein the wavelet-based representation has a smaller data size than the data point representation of the geographic feature.