Polygonal approximation using genetic algorithms

Abstract

In this paper, three polygonal approximation approaches using genetic algorithms are proposed. The first approach approximates the digital curve by minimizing the number of sides of the polygon and the approximation error should be less than a prespecified tolerance value. The second approach minimizes the approximation error by searching for a polygon with a given number of sides. The third approach, which is more practical, determines the approximating polygon automatically without any given condition. Moreover, a learning strategy for each of the proposed genetic algorithm is presented to improve the results. The experimental results show that the proposed approaches have better performances than do the existing methods.