Building Footprint Simplification Techniques and Their Effects on Radio Propagation Predictions

Building footprint simplification is of critical importance to radio propagation predictions in wireless communication systems as the prediction time is closely related to the number of both buildings and vertices involved. Intuitively, if the complexity of footprints (i.e., the number of vertices in the footprints) is reduced, predictions can be generated more quickly. However, such reductions often affect the accuracy of results as the simplification error constrains the efficiency that can be achieved. To achieve a good vertex reduction rate for the footprints involved and at the same time preserve the shapes of footprints in terms of their areas, orientations, and centroids, we propose a number of efficient single-pass methods to simplify building footprints. To satisfy constraints on edges, areas, and centroid of simplified footprints, multi-pass methods are suggested. Hybrid methods take advantages of complementary property exhibited by different footprint simplification methods...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2004
• Where: CJ
• Authors: Zhongqiang Chen, Alex Delis, Henry L. Bertoni
• Keywords: CJ 2004, Footprint Simplification, Footprints, Prediction