locationtech / locationtech/spatial4j
Geodetic bounding circle algorithm
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- Dominant language
- Java
- Stars
- 961
- Forks
- 172
- PR merge metrics
- No merged PRs in 30d
Description
Given a set of points on the surface of a sphere, what is the centroid and smallest radius that encompasses them? Answering this is useful for getting a circle approximation of a shape, useful potentially for subsequently computing shape overlap similarity (relevancy/ranking metric). And it could be used to compute a polygon center, which then might be used to locally-project the data to then do other things.
For inspiration, we could examine JTS's Euclidean algorithm, and adapt it to work geodetically. I worked a concept of this out on paper.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by examining JTS's Euclidean bounding-circle algorithm and the geodetic constraints described in the issue. Define the expected centroid and smallest enclosing radius for points on a sphere, then identify suitable entry points and tests in Spatial4j. Done should include an agreed algorithm, documented behavior, and coverage for representative spherical point sets.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- java
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100