Visualization of Geometric Spanner Algorithms

Abstract

It is easier to understand an algorithm when it can be seen in interactive mode. The current study implemented four algorithms to construct geometric spanners; the path-greedy, gap-greedy, Theta-graph and Yao-graph algorithms. The data structure visualization framework (http://www.cs.usfca.edu/~galles/visualization/) developed by David Galles was used. Two features were added to allow its use in spanner algorithm visualization: support point-based algorithms and export of the output to Ipe drawing software format. The interactive animations in the framework make steps of visualization beautiful and media controls are available to manage the animations. Visualization does not require extensions to be installed on the web browser. It is available at http://cs.yazd.ac.ir/cgalg/AlgsVis/