Efficient triangulation of simple polygons

This paper considers the topic of efficiently traingulating a simple polygon with emphasis on practical and easy-to-implement algorithms. It also describes a newadaptive algorithm for triangulating a simplen-sided polygon. The algorithm runs in timeO(n(1+t _o)) witht ₀<n. The quantityt ₀ measures theshape-complexity of thetriangulation delivered by the algorithm. More preciselyt ₀ is the number of obtained triangles contained in the triangulation that share zero edges with the input polygon and is, furthermore, related to the shape-complexity of theinput polygon. Although the worst-case complexity of the algorithm isO(n ²), for several classes of polygons it runs in linear time. The practical advantages of the algorithm are that it is simple and does not require sorting or the use of balanced tree structures. On the theoretical side, it is of interest because it is the first polygon triangulation algorithm where thecomputational complexity is a function of theoutput complexity. As a side benefit, we introduce a new measure of the complexity of a polygon triangulation that should find application in other contexts as well.     

On geodesic properties of polygons relevant to linear time triangulation

Triangulating a simple polygon ofn vertices inO(n) time is one of the main open problems in computational geometry. The fastest algorithm to date, due to Tarjan and van Wyk, runs inO(n log logn), but several classes of simple polygons have been shown to admit linear time traingulation. Famous examples of such classes are: star-shaped, monotone, spiral, edge visible, and weakly externally visible polygons. The notion of geodesic paths is used here to characterize all classes of polygons for which linear time triangulation algorithms are known. First we introduce a new class of polygons,palm polygons, which subsumes many known classes of polygons for which linear time triangulation algorithms exist, and present a linear time algorithm for triangulating polygons in this class. Then a class of polygons,crab polygons, is defined and shown to contain all classes of existing polygons for which linear time triangulation algorithms are known. As a byproduct of this characterization, a new, very simple linear time algorithm for triangulating star-shaped polygons is obtained.Research supported by Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (McGill University) and NSERC under grant OGP0036737Research supported by FCAR grant EQ-1678 and NSERC grant A9293     

On partitioning rectilinear polygons into star-shaped polygons

We present an algorithm for finding optimum partitions of simple monotone rectilinear polygons into star-shaped polygons. The algorithm may introduce Steiner points and its time complexity isO(n), wheren is the number of vertices in the polygon. We then use this algorithm to obtain anO(n logn) approximation algorithm for partitioning simple rectilinear polygons into star-shaped polygons with the size of the partition being at most six times the optimum.     

On a convex hull algorithm for polygons and its application to triangulation problems

A frequently used algorithm for finding the convex hull of a simple polygon in linear running time has been recently shown to fail in some cases. Due to its simplicity the algorithm is, nevertheless, attractive. In this paper it is shown that the algorithm does in fact work for a family of simple polygons known as weakly externally visible polygons. Some application areas where such polygons occur are briefly discussed. In addition, it is shown that with a trivial modification the algorithm can be used to internally and externally triangulate certain classes of polygons in 0(n) time.     

On approximation behavior of the greedy triangulation for convex polygons

We prove that the greedy triangulation heuristic for minimum weight triangulation of convex polygons yields solutions within a constant factor from the optimum. For interesting classes of convex polygons, we derive small upper bounds on the constant approximation factor. Our results contrast with Kirkpatrick's (n) bound on the approximation factor of the Delaunay triangulation heuristic for minimum weight triangulation of convexn-vertex polygons. On the other hand, we present a straightforward implementation of the greedy triangulation heuristic for ann-vertex convex point set or a convex polygon takingO(n ²) time andO(n) space. To derive the latter result, we show that given a convex polygonP, one can find for all verticesv ofP a shortest diagonal ofP incident tov in linear time. Finally, we observe that the greedy triangulation for convex polygons having so-called semicircular property can be constructed in timeO(n logn).     

Ray shooting in polygons using geodesic triangulations

LetP be a simple polygon withn vertices. We present a simple decomposition scheme that partitions the interior ofP intoO(n) so-called geodesic triangles, so that any line segment interior toP crosses at most 2 logn of these triangles. This decomposition can be used to preprocessP in a very simple manner, so that any ray-shooting query can be answered in timeO(logn). The data structure requiresO(n) storage andO(n logn) preprocessing time. By using more sophisticated techniques, we can reduce the preprocessing time toO(n). We also extend our general technique to the case of ray shooting amidstk polygonal obstacles with a total ofn edges, so that a query can be answered inO( logn) time.Work by Bernard Chazelle has been supported by NSF Grant CCR-87-00917. Work by Herbert Edelsbrunner has been supported by NSF Grant CCR-89-21421. Work by Micha Sharir has been supported by ONR Grants N00014-89-J-3042 and N00014-90-J-1284, by NSF Grant CCR-89-01484, and by grants from the U.S.-Israeli Binational Science Foundation, the Fund for Basic Research administered by the Israeli Academy of Sciences, and the G.I.F., the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development.     

Recognizing polygons,or how to spy

A new class of so-called pseudo-starshaped polygons is introduced. A polygon is pseudo-star-shaped if there exists a point from which the whole interior of the polygon can be seen, provided it is possible to see through single edges. We show that the class of pseudo-star-shaped polygons unifies and generalizes the well-known classes of convex, monotone and pseudostar-sphaped polygons. We give algorithms for testing whether a polygon is pseudostar-shaped from a given point in linear time, and for constructing all regions from which the polygon is pseudo-star-shaped in quadratic time. We show the latter algorithm to be worst-case optimal. Also, we give efficient algorithms solving standard geometrical problems such as point-location and triangulation for pseudo-starshaped polygons.A preliminary version of this paper has been presented at the 24 th Allerton Conference on Communication, Control and Computing, Monticello, Ill, October 1986Research for this paper was done while the author was at Carleton UniversityResearch for this paper was done in part while the author was visiting Carleton UniversityThis research was supported in part by NSERC and by Carleton University     

A unifying approach for a class of problems in the computational geometry of polygons

A generalized problem is defined in terms of functions on sets and illustrated in terms of the computational geometry of simple planar polygons. Although its apparent time complexity is O(n ²), the problem is shown to be solvable for several cases of interest (maximum and minimum distance, intersection detection and rerporting) in O(n logn), O(n) or O(logn) time, depending on the nature of a specialized selection function. (Some of the cases can also be solved by the Voronoi diagram method; but time complexity increases with that approach.) A new use of monotonicity and a new concept of locality in set mappings contribute significantly to the derivation of the results.     

Parallel triangulation of a polygon in two calls to the trapezoidal map

We give a parallel method for triangulating a simple polygon by two (parallel) calls to the trapezoidal map computation. The method is simpler and more elegant than previous methods. Along the way we obtain an interesting partition of one-sided monotone polygons. Using the best-known trapezoidal map algorithm, ours run in timeO(logn) usingO(n) CREW PRAM processors.This research was supported by NSF Grants No. DCR-84-01898 and No. DCR-84-01633, and ONR Contract N00014-85-K-0046.     

Optimum sweeps of simple polygons with two guards

A polygon P admits a sweep if two mobile guards can detect an unpredictable, moving target inside P  , no matter how fast the target moves. Two guards move on the polygon boundary and are required to always be mutually visible. The objective of this study is to find an optimum sweep such that the sum of the distances travelled by the two guards in the sweep is minimized. We present an O(n²)$O(n^2)$ time and O(n)$O(n)$ space algorithm for optimizing this metric, where n   is the number of vertices of the given polygon. Our result is obtained by reducing this problem to finding a shortest path between two nodes in a graph of size O(n)$O(n)$.     

Linear-time algorithms for visibility and shortest path problems inside triangulated simple polygons

Given a triangulation of a simple polygonP, we present linear-time algorithms for solving a collection of problems concerning shortest paths and visibility withinP. These problems include calculation of the collection of all shortest paths insideP from a given source vertexS to all the other vertices ofP, calculation of the subpolygon ofP consisting of points that are visible from a given segment withinP, preprocessingP for fast "ray shooting" queries, and several related problems.Work on this paper by this author has been supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-82-K-0381, National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF-DCR-83-20085, and by grants from the Digital Equipment Corporation, the IBM Corporation, and from the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation.Work on this paper by this author has been supported by National Science Foundation Grant DCR-86-05962.     

A linear-time 2-approximation algorithm for the watchman route problem for simple polygons

Given a simple polygon P$P$ of n$n$ vertices, the watchman route problem   asks for a shortest (closed) route inside P$P$ such that each point in the interior of P$P$ can be seen from at least one point along the route. In this paper, we present a simple, linear-time algorithm for computing a watchman route of length at most two times that of the shortest watchman route. The best known algorithm for computing a shortest watchman route takes O(n⁴logn)$O(n^{4}logn)$ time, which is too complicated to be suitable in practice.     

An efficient algorithm for decomposing a polygon into star-shaped polygons

In this paper we show how a theorem in plane geometry can be converted into a O(n log n) algorithm for decomposing a polygon into star-shaped subsets. The computational efficiency of this new decomposition contrasts with the heavy computational burden of existing methods.     

Note on covering monotone orthogonal polygons with star-shaped polygons

In 1986, Keil provided an O(n²) time algorithm for the problem of covering monotone orthogonal polygons with the minimum number of r-star-shaped orthogonal polygons. This was later improved to O(n) time and space by Gewali et al. in [L. Gewali, M. Keil, S.C. Ntafos, On covering orthogonal polygons with star-shaped polygons, Information Sciences 65 (1992) 45-63]. In this paper we simplify the latter algorithm—we show that with a little modification, the first step Sweep1 of the discussed algorithm—which computes the top ceilings of horizontal grid segments—can be omitted.In addition, for the minimum orthogonal guard problem in the considered class of polygons, our approach provides a linear time algorithm which uses O(k) additional space, where k is the size of the optimal solution—the algorithm in [L. Gewali, M. Keil, S.C. Ntafos, On covering orthogonal polygons with star-shaped polygons, Information Sciences 65 (1992) 45-63] uses both O(n) time and O(n) additional space.     

Computing medial axes of generic 3D regions bounded by B-spline surfaces

A new approach is presented for computing the interior medial axes of generic regions in R³ bounded by C⁽⁴⁾-smooth parametric B-spline surfaces. The generic structure of the 3D medial axis is a set of smooth surfaces along with a singular set consisting of edge curves, branch curves, fin points and six junction points. In this work, the medial axis singular set is first computed directly from the B-spline representation using a collection of robust higher order techniques. Medial axis surfaces are computed as a time trace of the evolving self-intersection set of the boundary under the the eikonal (grassfire) flow, where the bounding surfaces are dynamically offset along the inward normal direction. The eikonal flow results in special transition points that create, modify or annihilate evolving curve fronts of the (self-) intersection set. The transition points are explicitly identified using the B-spline representation. Evolution of the (self-) intersection set is computed by adapting a method for tracking intersection curves of two different surfaces deforming over generalized offset vector fields. The proposed algorithm accurately computes connected surfaces of the medial axis as well its singular set. This presents a complete solution along with accurate topological structure.     

Searching for empty convex polygons

A key problem in computational geometry is the identification of subsets of a point set having particular properties. We study this problem for the properties of convexity and emptiness. We show that finding empty triangles is related to the problem of determining pairs of vertices that see each other in a star-shaped polygon. A linear-time algorithm for this problem which is of independent interest yields an optimal algorithm for finding all empty triangles. This result is then extended to an algorithm for finding empty convex r-gons (r> 3) and for determining a largest empty convex subset. Finally, extensions to higher dimensions are mentioned.The first author is pleased to acknowledge support by the National Science Foundation under Grant CCR-8700917. The research of the second author was supported by Amoco Foundation Faculty Development Grant CS 1-6-44862 and by the National Science Foundation under Grant CCR-8714565.     

确定两个任意简单多边形空间关系的算法

阐述了把简单多边形的边分为奇偶边的新思想,根据一多边形的边与另一多边形的拓朴关系,划分边为5种拓朴类型:内边、外边、重叠边、相交边、复杂边,进而给出了确定两个多边形空间关系的算法,算法的时间复杂度为O((n+m)log(n+m)),其中n、m分别是两输入多边形的顶点数。该算法建立在数学理论基础之上,没有奇异情况需要处理,易于编程实现。算法的主要思想对确定两个简单多面体空间关系亦有参考价值。     

Algorithm for constrained delaunay triangulation

A direct algorithm for computing constrained Delaunay triangulation in 2-D is presented. The algorithm inserts points along the constrained edges (break lines) to maintain the Delaunay criterion. Since many different insertions are possible, the algorithm computes only those that are on the Delaunay circles of each intersected triangle. A shelling procedure is applied to put triangles together in such a way that completeness and correctness are guaranteed.     

Transversal of disjoint convex polygons

Given a set S of n disjoint convex polygons {P_i∣1?i?n} in a plane, each with k_i vertices, the transversal problem is to find, if there exists one, a straight line that goes through every polygon in S. We show that the transversal problem can be solved in O(N+nlogn) time, where N=∑_i=1ⁿk_i is the total number of vertices of the polygons.