A fast O(N) multiresolution polygonal approximation algorithm for GPS trajectory simplification

IEEE Trans Image Process. 2012 May;21(5):2770-85. doi: 10.1109/TIP.2012.2186146. Epub 2012 Jan 31.

Abstract

Recent advances in geopositioning mobile phones have made it possible for users to collect a large number of GPS trajectories by recording their location information. However, these mobile phones with built-in GPS devices usually record far more data than needed, which brings about both heavy data storage and a computationally expensive burden in the rendering process for a Web browser. To address this practical problem, we present a fast polygonal approximation algorithm in 2-D space for the GPS trajectory simplification under the so-called integral square synchronous distance error criterion in a linear time complexity. The underlying algorithm is designed and implemented using a bottom-up multiresolution method, where the input of polygonal approximation in the coarser resolution is the polygonal curve achieved in the finer resolution. For each resolution (map scale), priority-queue structure is exploited in graph construction to construct the initialized approximated curve. Once the polygonal curve is initialized, two fine-tune algorithms are employed in order to achieve the desirable quality level. Experimental results validated that the proposed algorithm is fast and achieves a better approximation result than the existing competitive methods.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Geographic Information Systems*
  • Image Enhancement / methods
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods*
  • Information Storage and Retrieval / methods*
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity