Polygonal approximation of closed discrete curves

Optimal polygonal approximation of closed curves differs from the case of open curve in the sense that the location of the starting point must also be determined. Straightforward exhaustive search would take N times more time than the corresponding optimal algorithm for an open curve, because there are N possible points to be considered as the starting point. Faster sub-optimal solution can be found by iterating the search and heuristically selecting different starting point at each iteration. In this paper, we propose to find the optimal approximation of a cyclically extended closed curve of double size, and to select the best possible starting point by search in the extended search space for the curve. The proposed approach provides solution very close to the optimal one using at most twice as much time as required by the optimal algorithm for the corresponding open curve.