Plastic merge procedure for mosaics of polygons

Graphic input, while providing a congenial medium for the user, can lead to problems of noisy data. In the case of mosaics of arbitrary polygons input graphically, the problem lies in boundary misalignments and the consequent lack of guaranteed common boundaries. A general plastic merge procedure operating on mosaics of arbitrary rectilinear polygons is described which corrects such boundary misalignments. The work was originally motivated by the needs of an applications project funded by sponsors with user interests. With further support from SRC, the underlying concepts were subsequently expanded and are presented here in a form which is not application-specific.