Research on a Buffer Algorithm Based on Region-Merging of Buffered Geometry Components and Its Parallel Optimization

doi:10.13485/j.cnki.11-2089.2014.0122

Abstract

Abstract:

Abstract: The double-sided parallel line method and the geometry rasterization-based dilation method have been extensively used for buffer generation in spatial analysis. The former involves a series of complex numerical operations and may not be suitable for parallelized computation; the latter inevitably introduces precision problems and computation complexity. In this paper, we proposed a parallel buffer construction algorithm based on region-merging of buffered geometry components in association with the message passing interface (MPI) parallel programming model. Several optimization strategies were studied for the parallel buffer algorithm. The performances of both serial and parallel buffer algorithms were comparably analyzed. Three performance bottlenecks which significantly impact the algorithm efficiency were identified: area merging operation, task load balance strategy and MPI inter-process results merging methods. Corresponding optimization approaches involving tree-like area and inter-process results merging and the parallel task partition based on vertex number oriented parallel task partition strategy were suggested to overcome these bottlenecks. Several experiments were carried out to examine the performance efficiency of the optimized parallel algorithm. The estimation results suggested that our method could provide high performance and processing ability for buffer construction in a parallel environment. Our method could provide insights into the parallelization of spatial analysis algorithm.

Key words: Parallel Algorithm, Buffer, MPI, Task Partition, Tree-like Merging

CLC Number:

P209

FAN Junfu MA Ting ZHOU Chenghu JI Min ZHOU Yuke XU Tao. Research on a Buffer Algorithm Based on Region-Merging of Buffered Geometry Components and Its Parallel Optimization[J]. Acta Geodaetica et Cartographica Sinica, 2014, 43(9): 969-975.

References

[1] Turton I., Openshaw S. High-performance computing and geography: developments, issues, and case studies[J]. Environment and Planning: A. 30, 1998, pp. 1839-1856.
[2] Clarke K. C. Geocomputation’s Future at the Extremes: High Performance Computing and Nanoclients[J]. Parallel Computing, 2003, 29(10): 1281-1295.
[3] Grama A, Gupta A, Karypis G, et al. Introduction to Parallel Computing (Second Edition)[M]. Addison-Wesley, 2003, 656pp.
[4] Wang J. C., Wang B., Hu W., et al. Review on Parallel Spatial Analysis Algorithms[J]. Geography and Geo-Information Science, 2011, 27(6): 1-5. (王结臣, 王豹, 胡玮, 等. 并行空间分析算法研究进展及评述[J]. 地理与地理信息科学, 2011, 27(6): 1-5.)
[5] Sloan T. M., Mineter M.J., Dowers S., et al. Partitioning of Vector-Topological Data for Parallel GIS Operations: Assessment and Performance Analysis[C]. In: Proceedings of Euro-Par’99 Parallel Processing, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1999, 1685: 691-694.
[6] Mineter M. J., Dowers S. Parallel processing for geographical applications: A layered approach[J]. Journal of Geographical Systems, 1999, 1(1): 61-74.
[7] Darling G.J., Sloan T.M., Mulholland C. The input, preparation and distribution of data for parallel GIS operations[C]. In: Proceedings of Euro-Par 2000, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2000, 1900: 500–505.
[8] Mineter M. J. A software framework to create vector-topology in parallel GIS operations[J]. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2003, 17(3): 203-222.
[9] Wu H. H. Problem of Buffer Zone Construction in GIS[J]. Journal of Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping (WTUSM), 1997, 22(4): 358-366. (毋河海. 关于GIS缓冲区的建立问题[J]. 武汉测绘科技大学学报, 1997, 22(4):358-366.)
[10] Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. Buffer - GIS Dictionary[EB/OL]. 2012. URL: http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/GISDictionary/term/buffer, [accessed Mar. 1 2013].
[11] Zalik, B., Zadravec, M., Clapworthy, G. Construction of a Non-Symmetric Geometric Buffer From a Set of Line Segments[J]. Computers & Geosciences, 2003, 29(1): 53–63.
[12] Bhatia S., Vira V., Choksi D., et al. An algorithm for generating geometric buffers for vector feature layers[J], Geo-spatial Information Science, 2013, 16(2): 130-138.
[13] Wu H. Y., Gong J. Y., Li D. R. Buffer Curve and Buffer Generation Algorithm in Aid of Edge-Constrained Triangle Network[J]. Acta Geodaetica et Cartograohica Sinica, 1999, 28(4): 356-359. (吴华意, 龚健雅, 李德仁. 缓冲曲线和边约束三角网辅助的缓冲区生成算法[J]. 测绘学报, 1999, 28(4): 356-359.)
[14] Zhu Huang, Ai Tinghua, Wang Hong. The Buffer Construction of line object based on the geometric scan idea[J]. Acta Geodaetica et Cartographica Sinica, 2006, 35(2): 171-176. (朱熀, 艾廷华, 王洪. 基于条带扫描思想的线目标缓冲区快速构建[J]. 测绘学报, 2006, 35(2): 171-176.)
[15] Li Ke, Du Lin. An Algorithm of Buffer Zones Based on Algorithm of Dilation. Journal of Institute of Surveying and Mapping, 2005, 22(3): 229-231. (李科, 杜林. 基于膨胀算法的缓冲区分析的设计与实现[J]. 测绘学院学报, 2005, 22(3): 229-231.)
[16] Yao Y. Q., Gao J. S., Meng L. K., et al. Parallel Computing of Buffer Analysis Based On Grid Computing. Geospatial Information, 2007, 5(1): 98-101. (姚艺强, 高劲松, 孟令奎, 等. 网格环境下缓冲区分析的并行计算[J]. 地理空间信息, 2007, 5(1): 98-101.)
[17] Vatti B. R. A Generic Solution to Polygon Clipping[J]. Communications of the ACM, 1992, 35(7): 56-63.
[18] Murta A., 1998. A Generic Polygon Clipping Library[EB/OL]. URL:http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/alan/software/gpc.html. [accessed Nov. 2012].
[19] Greiner G., Hormann K. Efficient clipping of arbitrary polygons[J]. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 1998, 17(2): 71-83.
[20] Sutherland I. E., Hodgman G. W. Reentrant Polygon Clipping[J]. Communications of the ACM, 1974, 17(1): 32-42.
[21] Weiler K., Atherton P. Hidden surface removal using polygon area sorting[C]. In: Proceedings of the SIGGRAPH’77. New York: ACM Press, 1977, pp. 214-222.
[22] Guttman A. R-Trees: A Dynamic Index Structure for Spatial Searching[C]. In: Proceedings of ACM SIGMOD Conference on Management of Data. New York: ACM Press, 1984, pp. 47-57.