Embedding point sets into plane graphs of small dilation

• Let S be a set of points in the plane. What is the minimum possible dilation of all plane graphs that contain S? Even for a set S as simple as five points evenly placed on the circle, this question seems hard to answer; it is not even clear if there exists a lower bound > 1. In this paper we provide the first upper and lower bounds for the embedding problem. 1. Each finite point set can be embedded in to the vertex set of a finite triangulation of dilation <= 1.1247. 2. Each embedding of a closed convex curve has dilation >= 1.00157. 3. Let P be the plane graph that results from intersecting n infinite families of equidistant, parallel lines in general position. Then the vertex set of P has dilation >= 2/root 3 approximate to 1.1547.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

geometric network

spanning ratio

plane graph

lower bound

stretch factor

dilation

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)