A Simple Polygon Triangulation Algorithm

In this Paper we propose an easily implementable polygon triangulation algorithm using Shortest Paths. The algorithm runs in O(nlogk) deterministic time with k < n 3 . Our algorithm runs in linear time for a large class of polygons. The biggest advantage of the algorithm is that it uses very simple data structures and it computes the triangulation just by scanning the boundary of the polygon. We also implemented part of the algorithm that actually calculates k for a given input polygon. Experimetal evidence shows that in most cases k is very small, making the algorithm run in near linear time for most practical purposes.