Decomposing a simple polygon into trapezoids

Abstract

Chazelle's triangulation [1] forms today the common basis for linear-time Euclidean shortest path (ESP) calculations (where start and end point are given within a simple polygon). This paper provides an alternative method for subdividing a simple polygon into "basic shapes", using trapezoids instead of triangles. The authors consider the presented method as being substantially simpler than the linear-time triangulation method. However, it requires a sorting step (of a subset of vertices of the given simple polygon); all the other subprocesses are linear time. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.