  The ground-state phase diagram and quantum phase transitions (QPTs) in a
spin-1 compass chain are investigated by the infinite time-evolving block
decimation (iTEBD) method. Various phases are discerned by energy densities,
spin correlations and entanglement entropy. A generalized string correlator is
found to be capable of describing the nonlocal string order in the disordered
phase. Furthermore, in the noncritical disordered phase, the spin-spin
correlations are found to decay exponentially. Except for a multicritical point
($J_{1}=0$, $J_{2}=0$), the QPTs are determined to have second-order
characters. In addition, the central charges on these critical phase boundaries
are determined to be $c$=1/2, therefore these QPTs belong to the Ising
universality class.
