SIMPLIPOLY: CURVATURE-BASED POLYGONAL CURVE SIMPLIFICATION

Abstract

A curvature-based algorithm to simplify a polygonal curve is described, together with its implementation. The so-called SimpliPoly algorithm uses Bézier curves to approximate pieces of the input curve, and assign curvature estimates to vertices of the input polyline from curvature values computed for the Bézier approximations. The authors' implementation of SimpliPoly is interactive and available freely on-line. Additionally, a third-party implementation of SimpliPoly as a plug-in for the GNU Blender 3D modeling software is available. Empirical comparisons indicate that SimpliPoly performs as well as the widely-used Douglas-Peucker algorithm in most situations, and significantly better, because it is curvature-driven, in applications where it is necessary to preserve local features.