order to choose the value of k. Starting the algorithm
with k=3 always leads to a polygon with the
characteristics described in the above criteria. On the
other hand, if the SA algorithm is started with a too
low value for r, the result may not be a regular
polygon. Therefore, the choice of r for SA requires a
previous knowledge of the data set. This
characteristic of the Concave Hull makes it suitable
to process many data sets representing different
regions, and where the spatial density of points in
each region can be very different. Second, the
Concave Hull algorithm adapts itself to the
variations in the spatial density of the points within
the same data set, as shown in Figure 7b. On the
other hand, it seams that the SA algorithm uses a
constant value of r to select the list of candidates to
become the next vertex of the polygon, therefore not
being able to adapt to variations in the spatial
density of the points.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper we described an algorithm to compute
the “concave hull” of a set of points in the plane.
The algorithm is based in a k-nearest neighbours
approach and is able to deal with arbitrary sets of
points by taking care of a few special cases. The
“smoothness” of the computed hull can also be
controlled by the user through the k parameter.
The presented algorithm has as advantages the
fact that it can deal with non-convex (concave) hulls
as well as convex ones, and the fact that the user can
adapt the polygons to its needs by choosing the k
parameter. The algorithm was implemented as a
Mathematica package, and the obtained results show
that the time to compute the “concave hull”
increases approximately linearly with the number of
points.
Future work on this subject includes the
improvement of the algorithm implementation,
namely through the use of a more efficient function
to calculate the angles depicted in Figure 5, and a
more efficient function to verify if two line segments
intersect each other. The computational complexity
of the proposed algorithm is also a subject for future
analysis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was developed as part of the LOCAL
project funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e
Tecnologia through grant POSI/CHS/44971/2002,
with support from the POSI program.
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