A Fast O(N) Multiresolution Polygonal Approximation Algorithm for GPS Trajectory Simplification

• Published in: IEEE transactions on image processing Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 2770 - 2785
• Main Authors: Minjie Chen, Mantao Xu, Franti, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.05.2012; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Algorithm design and analysis; Algorithms; Applied sciences; Approximation; Approximation algorithms; Approximation methods; Complexity theory; Exact sciences and technology; Geographic Information Systems; Geographic information systems (GISs); Global Positioning System; global positioning system trajectory simplification (GPS TS); Heuristic algorithms; Image Enhancement - methods; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods; Image processing; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Information Storage and Retrieval - methods; Information theory; Information, signal and communications theory; Mathematical analysis; Pattern Recognition, Automated - methods; polygonal approximation; priority queue; reduced search dynamic programming (RSDP); Reproducibility of Results; Satellite navigation systems; Sensitivity and Specificity; Signal processing; Simplification; Telecommunications and information theory; Trajectories; Trajectory; Mobile phone; Geographic information systems (GISs); priority queue; Wireless telecommunication; Data storage; Radiolocalisation; Multiresolution analysis; Implementation; Linear complexity; Traffic control; Dynamic programming; Fast algorithm; Localization; Queue; Mobile radiocommunication; Graph construction; GPS system; Teletraffic; Polygonal approximation; reduced search dynamic programming (RSDP); Satellite navigation; Queueing system; Geographic information system; Traffic management; global positioning system trajectory simplification (GPS TS); Open market; Time complexity
• ISSN: 1057-7149; 1941-0042
• DOI: 10.1109/TIP.2012.2186146

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.