Comment 5 for bug 170537

Bug #171414 (and its duplicates) regarding centerline tracing would be solved if this is provided. I would also like to see centerline tracing and since autotrace provides that, it would be best to provide an interface for autotrace. While potrace seems to be better than autotrace for most other purposes:

http://delineate.sourceforge.net/
"potrace produces superior black and white SVG results compared to AutoTrace."

http://lilypond.org/mftrace/
Potrace is recommended as it runs quicker than autotrace.

... it seems the single function of centerline tracing will make autotrace a great addition judging by the number of queries about this at the forum (http://www.inkscapeforum.com/search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&keywords=centerline+tracing), especially since potrace is never going to support that:

http://potrace.sourceforge.net/faq.html
Does Potrace provide centerline tracing? Instead of tracing the contour of my image, I just want a single line in the center of each stroke.
Answer: No, Potrace is not designed to do centerline tracing, and for technical reasons, it is unlikely that this will change in the near future. ... You could try Autotrace, which has such a feature.