Analysis of the Precision of Generalized Chain Codes for the Representation of Planar Curves

This paper examines a set of line-segment approximation codes for the representation of planar curves (the so-called generalized chain codes) and shows that the average quantization error (measure of code´s precision) is directly proportional to the grid size and is independent of the form of the code. Thus, to achieve a desired level of precision for the representation of a line drawing, only the size of the grid need be determined; the form of the code can be chosen on the basis of other criteria, such as compactness, smoothness, or relative ease of encoding and processing.