A New Algorithm for Polygon Intersection Operation

Polygon Intersection is among the most fundamental operations in Computer Graphics, which is also broadly applied in GIS. The existing algorithms for polygon intersection may fail because of being specified ambiguously, or can not handling the concave polygons or those with holes. In this paper, introducing the concept of Monotone chain from Geometry, a rapid polygon intersection algorithm has been addressed. This algorithm could be adapted to any general polygons, with no need to process abnormal conditions; moreover, it could tolerate arithmetic errors. The algorithm has already been applied in GIS platform software, and proved of great stability and reliability.