Covering Paths for Planar Point Sets

Abstract

Given a set of points, a covering path is a directed polygonal path that visits all the points. We show that for any n points in the plane, there exists a (possibly self-crossing) covering path consisting of n/2+O(n/logn) straight line segments. If no three points are collinear, any covering path (self-crossing or non-crossing) needs at least n/2 segments. If the path is required to be non-crossing, n−1 straight line segments obviously suffice and we exhibit n-element point sets which require at least 5n/9−O(1) segments in any such path. Further, we show that computing a non-crossing covering path for n points in the plane requires Ω(n logn) time in the worst case.