Systems and methods provide for efficiently and accurately determining a simplified path that conforms to the geometry of an original path by simultaneously minimizing the deviation from the original path and reducing the number of anchor points in the simplified path. A simplified path may be iteratively generated by updating parametric values and anchor points for candidate simplified paths at epochs. A deviation in distance between points on the original path and corresponding points on candidate paths may be iteratively decreased to ensure that the resulting simplified path follows the geometry of the original path to a predetermined threshold. Continuity constrains can also be applied to ensure smoothness of the simplified path.