A Method for Solving the Visibility Problem

This method for describing the visibility problem is based on the concept of analyzing the problem utilizing connectivity information. The result is a uniform description of visibility algorithms in terms of two basic functions, the test of projective equivalence and the comparison of the distance from the observer, and the use of connectivity information. This result leads to a hierarchy of visibility algorithms, which allows the characterization of the typical advantages and disadvantages of certain strategies independently of the quality of the implementation. The calculation rate of the new algorithm is substantially better than that of existing methods. Study of the distributivity of the visibility problem also shows that the use of connectivity information leads to an algorithmic improvement as well as a better usage of distributed systems.