Crate planar_convex_hull 

A lightweight library providing a trait for implementing convex hull algorithm on your own datatype.

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Found a bug, missing docs, or have a feature request?
Please open an issue on GitHub.

This library offers the ConvexHull trait which provides a divide-and-conquer convex hull algorithm in O(n log h) [1, 2] via the convex_hull method. The trait can be implemented easily for any collection type holding point-like types which fulfills the following conditions:

• The point-like type implements Into<[f64; 2]>, Sync and Clone,
• The elements of the collections can be randomly accessed via an usize index,
• The elements and their indices can be iterated over.

Example implementation

Let’s assume we want to implement ConvexHull for a newtype wrapper around a slice of [f64; 2]. All we need to do is to tell the trait how to randomly access the data and how to iterate over the collection:

use planar_convex_hull::{ConvexHull, Index, reinterpret, reinterpret_ref};

struct MySlice<'a>(&'a[[f64; 2]]);

impl<'a> ConvexHull for MySlice<'a> {
    /// Index is a newtype of usize and is used to make sure that only indices returned
    /// by convex_hull_iter can be used for random data access. It can be converted into
    /// usize via the corresponding `From` implementation.
    fn convex_hull_get(&self, key: Index) -> [f64; 2] {
        // SAFETY: Index is only generated within the convex_hull method out of indices
        // returned by convex_hull_iter (which are known to be valid)
        return unsafe { self.0.get_unchecked(usize::from(key)) }
            .clone()
            .into();
    }

    fn convex_hull_iter(&self) -> impl Iterator<Item = (usize, [f64; 2])> {
        return self.0.iter().cloned().map(Into::into).enumerate();
    }
}

// Rhombus with two points in its middle
let my_slice = MySlice(&[
    [10.0, 4.0],
    [-10.0, 4.0],
    [0.0, 6.0],
    [0.0, 2.0],
    [4.0, 4.0], // Not part of the convex hull
    [-4.0, 4.0], // Not part of the convex hull
]);

// Returns a `Vec<Index>`. This vector can now be used to access the points via `convex_hull_get`:
let hull = my_slice.convex_hull();
let pts: Vec<[f64; 2]> = hull.iter().map(|i| my_slice.convex_hull_get(*i)).collect();
assert_eq!(pts, vec![[10.0, 4.0], [0.0, 6.0], [-10.0, 4.0], [0.0, 2.0]]);

// Now we want to use the raw usize indices for something else. We can either reinterpret
// a `&'a [Index]` as a `&'a [usize]` ...
let hull_usize_slice = reinterpret_ref(hull.as_slice());
assert_eq!(hull_usize_slice, &[0, 2, 1, 3]);

// ... or convert the `Vec<Index>` into a `Vec<usize>`. Both operations do simply reinterpret
// the bits, since `Index` is defined as a transparent newtype around usize.
let hull_usize_vec = reinterpret(hull);
assert_eq!(hull_usize_vec, vec![0, 2, 1, 3]);

Predefined implementations

The imp module contains implementations of ConvexHull for the following collection types with P: Into<[f64; 2]>:

• Vec<P>
• HashMap<usize, P>
• [P; N] with N being the size of the array
• &[P]
• Slab<P> (only available with feature flag slab enabled)
• AHashMap<usize, P> (only available with feature flag ahash enabled)

Please open an issue on the repository website https://github.com/StefanMathis/planar_convex_hull if you need an implementation of ConvexHull for additional collection types. You can also use the newtype idiom as shown in the example for a reference of a foreign collection instead (since all methods of ConvexHull operate on shared references).

Feature flags

All features are disabled by default.

Parallelizing the divide-and-conquer algorithm

Enabling the rayon feature parallelizes the divide-and-conquer algorithm.

Implementations for foreign datatypes

The flags slab and ahash provide ConvexHull implementations for foreign data types. See Predefined implementations.

Literature

1. Liu, Gh., Chen, Cb: A new algorithm for computing the convex hull of a planar point set. J. Zhejiang Univ. - Sci. A 8, 1210–1217 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.2007.A1210
2. Saad, Omar: A Convex Hull Algorithm and its implementation in O(n log h) (2017). https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/1210225/Fast-and-improved-D-Convex-Hull-algorithm-and-its

Note: As of June 2026, [2] is unfortunately offline, but can still be reached using the fantastic Wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20250818231303/https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/1210225/Fast-and-improved-D-Convex-Hull-algorithm-and-its A full copy of the website fetched from the Wayback machine is stored in the repo (docs/convex_hull_algorithm.html).

Modules

convex_hull_impl

This module contains implementations of ConvexHull for various foreign types. Some implementations are hidden between feature flags.

Structs

Index

An index known to be valid.

Traits

ConvexHull

A trait for implementing a planar convex hull algorithm for a collection type.

Functions

reinterpret

Reinterprets a Vec<Index> as a Vec<usize>.

reinterpret_ref

Like reinterpret, but reinterprets a slice instead of a vector.