Algorithms for distance problems in planar complexes of global nonpositive curvature

CAT(0) metric spaces and hyperbolic spaces play an important role in combinatorial and geometric group theory. In this paper, we present efficient algorithms for distance problems in CAT(0) planar complexes. First of all, we present an algorithm for answering single-point distance queries in a CAT(0) planar complex. Namely, we show that for a CAT(0) planar complex K with n vertices, one can construct in O(n^2 log n) time a data structure D of size O(n^2) so that, given a point x in K, the shortest path gamma(x,y) between x and the query point y can be computed in linear time. Our second algorithm computes the convex hull of a finite set of points in a CAT(0) planar complex. This algorithm is based on Toussaint's algorithm for computing the convex hull of a finite set of points in a simple polygon and it constructs the convex hull of a set of k points in O(n^2 log n + nk log k) time, using a data structure of size O(n^2 + k)

Computing largest circles separating two sets of segments

A circle $C$ separates two planar sets if it encloses one of the sets and its open interior disk does not meet the other set. A separating circle is a largest one if it cannot be locally increased while still separating the two given sets. An Theta(n log n) optimal algorithm is proposed to find all largest circles separating two given sets of line segments when line segments are allowed to meet only at their endpoints. In the general case, when line segments may intersect $\Omega(n^2)$ times, our algorithm can be adapted to work in O(n alpha(n) log n) time and O(n \alpha(n)) space, where alpha(n) represents the extremely slowly growing inverse of the Ackermann function.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, abstract presented at 8th Canadian Conference on Computational Geometry, 199

Fault-tolerant additive weighted geometric spanners

Let S be a set of n points and let w be a function that assigns non-negative weights to points in S. The additive weighted distance d_w(p, q) between two points p,q belonging to S is defined as w(p) + d(p, q) + w(q) if p \ne q and it is zero if p = q. Here, d(p, q) denotes the (geodesic) Euclidean distance between p and q. A graph G(S, E) is called a t-spanner for the additive weighted set S of points if for any two points p and q in S the distance between p and q in graph G is at most t.d_w(p, q) for a real number t > 1. Here, d_w(p,q) is the additive weighted distance between p and q. For some integer k \geq 1, a t-spanner G for the set S is a (k, t)-vertex fault-tolerant additive weighted spanner, denoted with (k, t)-VFTAWS, if for any set S' \subset S with cardinality at most k, the graph G \ S' is a t-spanner for the points in S \ S'. For any given real number \epsilon > 0, we obtain the following results: - When the points in S belong to Euclidean space R^d, an algorithm to compute a (k,(2 + \epsilon))-VFTAWS with O(kn) edges for the metric space (S, d_w). Here, for any two points p, q \in S, d(p, q) is the Euclidean distance between p and q in R^d. - When the points in S belong to a simple polygon P, for the metric space (S, d_w), one algorithm to compute a geodesic (k, (2 + \epsilon))-VFTAWS with O(\frac{k n}{\epsilon^{2}}\lg{n}) edges and another algorithm to compute a geodesic (k, (\sqrt{10} + \epsilon))-VFTAWS with O(kn(\lg{n})^2) edges. Here, for any two points p, q \in S, d(p, q) is the geodesic Euclidean distance along the shortest path between p and q in P. - When the points in $S$ lie on a terrain T, an algorithm to compute a geodesic (k, (2 + \epsilon))-VFTAWS with O(\frac{k n}{\epsilon^{2}}\lg{n}) edges.Comment: a few update

A Center Transversal Theorem for Hyperplanes and Applications to Graph Drawing

Motivated by an open problem from graph drawing, we study several partitioning problems for line and hyperplane arrangements. We prove a ham-sandwich cut theorem: given two sets of n lines in R^2, there is a line l such that in both line sets, for both halfplanes delimited by l, there are n^{1/2} lines which pairwise intersect in that halfplane, and this bound is tight; a centerpoint theorem: for any set of n lines there is a point such that for any halfplane containing that point there are (n/3)^{1/2} of the lines which pairwise intersect in that halfplane. We generalize those results in higher dimension and obtain a center transversal theorem, a same-type lemma, and a positive portion Erdos-Szekeres theorem for hyperplane arrangements. This is done by formulating a generalization of the center transversal theorem which applies to set functions that are much more general than measures. Back to Graph Drawing (and in the plane), we completely solve the open problem that motivated our search: there is no set of n labelled lines that are universal for all n-vertex labelled planar graphs. As a side note, we prove that every set of n (unlabelled) lines is universal for all n-vertex (unlabelled) planar graphs

An Efficient Algorithm for Computing High-Quality Paths amid Polygonal Obstacles

We study a path-planning problem amid a set $\mathcal{O}$ of obstacles in $\mathbb{R}^2$, in which we wish to compute a short path between two points while also maintaining a high clearance from $\mathcal{O}$; the clearance of a point is its distance from a nearest obstacle in $\mathcal{O}$. Specifically, the problem asks for a path minimizing the reciprocal of the clearance integrated over the length of the path. We present the first polynomial-time approximation scheme for this problem. Let $n$ be the total number of obstacle vertices and let $\varepsilon \in (0,1]$. Our algorithm computes in time $O(\frac{n^2}{\varepsilon ^2} \log \frac{n}{\varepsilon})$ a path of total cost at most $(1+\varepsilon)$ times the cost of the optimal path.Comment: A preliminary version of this work appear in the Proceedings of the 27th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithm