Isothetic polygonal approximations of a 2D object on generalized grid

Abstract

Determination of an isothetic polygonal approximation of the outer or inner contour of an object is a challenging problem with numerous applications to pattern recognition and image processing. In this paper, a novel algorithm is presented for constructing the outer (or inner) tight isothetic polygon(s) containing (or filling) an arbitrarily shaped 2D object on a background grid, using a classical labeling technique, The background grid may consist of uniformly or non-uniformly spaced horizontal and vertical lines. Experimental results for both uniform and non-uniform grids of varying sizes have been reported to demonstrate the applicability and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.