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.