We give the first optimal solution to a standard problem in computational geometry: three-dimensional halfspace range reporting. We show that n points in 3-d can be stored in a linear-space data structure so that all k points inside a query halfspace can be reported in O(log n + k) time. The data structure can be built in O(n log n) expected time. The previous methods with optimal query time required superlinear (O(n log log n)) space. We also mention consequences, for example, to higher dimensions and to external-memory data structures. As an aside, we partially answer another open question concerning the crossing number in Matouˇsek’s shallow partition theorem in the 3-d case (a tool used in many known halfspace range reporting methods). 1

We present a number of new results on one of the most extensively studied topics in computational geometry, orthogonal range searching. All our results are in the standard word RAM model: 1. We present two data structures for 2-d orthogonal range emptiness. The first achieves O(n lg lg n) space and O(lg lg n) query time, assuming that the n given points are in rank space. This improves the previous results by Alstrup, Brodal, and Rauhe (FOCS’00), with O(n lg ε n) space and O(lg lg n) query time, or with O(n lg lg n) space and O(lg 2 lg n) query time. Our second data structure uses O(n) space and answers queries in O(lg ε n) time. The best previous O(n)-space data structure, due to Nekrich (WADS’07), answers queries in O(lg n / lg lg n) time. 2. We give a data structure for 3-d orthogonal range reporting with O(n lg 1+ε n) space and O(lg lg n+ k) query time for points in rank space, for any constant ε> 0. This improves the previous results by Afshani (ESA’08), Karpinski and Nekrich (COCOON’09), and Chan (SODA’11), with O(n lg 3 n) space and O(lg lg n + k) query time, or with O(n lg 1+ε n) space and O(lg 2 lg n + k) query time. Consequently, we obtain improved upper bounds for orthogonal range reporting in all constant dimensions above 3.

We answer a basic data structuring question (for example, raised by Dietz and Raman back in SODA 1991): can van Emde Boas trees be made persistent, without changing their asymptotic query/update time? We present a (partially) persistent data structure that supports predecessor search in a set of integers in {1,..., U} under an arbitrary sequence of n insertions and deletions, with O(log log U) expected query time and expected amortized update time, and O(n) space. The query bound is optimal in U for linear-space structures and improves previous near-O((log log U) 2) methods. The same method solves a fundamental problem from computational geometry: point location in orthogonal planar subdivisions (where edges are vertical or horizontal). We obtain the first static data structure achieving O(log log U) worst-case query time and linear space. This result is again optimal in U for linear-space structures and improves the previous O((log log U) 2) method by de Berg, Snoeyink, and van Kreveld (1992). The same result also holds for higherdimensional subdivisions that are orthogonal binary space partitions, and for certain nonorthogonal planar subdivisions such as triangulations without small angles. Many geometric applications follow, including improved query times for orthogonal range reporting for dimensions ≥ 3 on the RAM. Our key technique is an interesting new van-Emde-Boas–style recursion that alternates between two strategies, both quite simple.

We present several results about Delaunay triangulations (DTs) and convex hulls in transdichotomous and hereditary settings: (i) the DT of a planar point set can be computed in expected time O(sort(n)) on a word RAM, where sort(n) is the time to sort n numbers. We assume that the word RAM supports the shuffle-operation in constant time; (ii) if we know the ordering of a planar point set in x- and in y-direction, its DT can be found by a randomized algebraic computation tree of expected linear depth; (iii) given a universe U of points in the plane, we construct a data structure D for Delaunay queries: for any P ⊆ U, D can find the DT of P in time O(|P | log log |U|); (iv) given a universe U of points in 3-space in general convex position, there is a data structure D for convex hull queries: for any P ⊆ U, D can find the convex hull of P in time O(|P |(log log |U|) 2); (v) given a convex polytope in 3-space with n vertices which are colored with χ> 2 colors, we can split it into the convex hulls of the individual color classes in time O(n(log log n) 2). The results (i)–(iii) generalize to higher dimensions. We need a wide range of techniques. Most prominently, we describe a reduction from DTs to nearest-neighbor graphs that relies on a new variant of randomized incremental constructions using dependent sampling.

Recently it was shown that — under reasonable assumptions — Voronoi diagrams and Delaunay triangulations of planar point sets can be computed in time o(n log n), beating the classical comparisonbased lower bound. A number of increasingly faster randomized algorithms have been proposed, most recently a linear-time algorithm based on a randomized incremental construction that uses a combination of nearest neighbor graphs and the history structure to speed up point location. We present a simpler variant of this approach relying only on nearest neighbor graphs. The algorithm and its analysis generalize to higher dimensions, with an expected performance that is proportional to the structural change of the randomized incremental construction. As a byproduct, we analyze an interesting class of insertion orders for randomized incremental constructions. 1

Given a planar subdivision whose coordinates are integers bounded by U ≤ 2 w, we present a linear-space data structure that can answer point location queries in O(min{lg n / lg lg n, √ lg U/lg lg U}) time on the unit-cost RAM with word size w. Thisisthe first result to beat the standard Θ(lg n) bound for infinite precision models. As a consequence, we obtain the first o(n lg n) (randomized) algorithms for many fundamental problems in computational geometry for arbitrary integer input on the word RAM, including: constructing the convex hull of a three-dimensional point set, computing the Voronoi diagram or the Euclidean minimum spanning tree of a planar point set, triangulating a polygon with holes, and finding intersections among a set of line segments. Higher-dimensional extensions and applications are also discussed. Though computational geometry with bounded precision input has been investigated for a long time, improvements have been limited largely to problems of an orthogonal flavor. Our results surpass this long-standing limitation, answering, for example, a question of Willard (SODA’92). Key words. Computational geometry, word-RAM algorithms, data structures, sorting, searching, convex hulls, Voronoi diagrams, segment intersection AMS subject classifications. 68Q25, 68P05, 68U05 Abbreviated title. Point location in sublogarithmic time

We give an algorithm for bichromatic line segment intersection counting that runs in O(n √ log n) time under the word RAM model via a reduction to dynamic predecessor search, offline point location, and offline dynamic ranking. This algorithm is the first to solve bichromatic line segment intersection counting in o(n log n) time. 1

We show that Delaunay triangulations and compressed quadtrees are equivalent structures. More precisely, we give two algorithms: the first computes a compressed quadtree for a planar point set, given the Delaunay triangulation; the second finds the Delaunay triangulation, given a compressed quadtree. Both algorithms run in deterministic linear time on a pointer machine. Our work builds on and extends previous results by Krznaric and Levcopolous [40] and Buchin and Mulzer [10]. Our main tool for the second algorithm is the well-separated pair decomposition (WSPD) [13], a structure that has been used previously to find Euclidean minimum spanning trees in higher dimensions [27]. We show that knowing the WSPD (and a quadtree) suffices to compute a planar EMST in linear time. With the EMST at hand, we can find the Delaunay triangulation in linear time [21]. As a corollary, we obtain deterministic versions of many previous algorithms related to Delaunay triangulations, such as splitting planar Delaunay triangulations [19, 20], preprocessing imprecise points for faster Delaunay computation [9, 42], and transdichotomous Delaunay triangulations [10, 15, 16].

The worst-case model for algorithm design does not always reflect the real world: inputs may have additional structure to be exploited, and sometimes data can be imprecise or become available only gradually. To better understand these situations, we examine several scenarios where additional information can affect the design and analysis of geometric algorithms. First, we consider hereditary convex hulls: given a three-dimensional convex polytope and a two-coloring of its vertices, we can find the individual monochromatic polytopes in linear expected time. This can be generalized in many ways, eg, to more than two colors, and to the offline-problem where we wish to preprocess a polytope so that any large enough subpolytope can be found quickly. Our techniques can also be used to give a simple analysis of the self-improving algorithm for planar Delaunay triangulations by Clarkson and Seshadhri [58]. Next, we assume that the point coordinates have a bounded number of bits, and that we can do standard bit manipulations in constant time. Then Delaunay triangulations can be found in expected time O(n √ log log n). Our result is based on a new connection between quadtrees and Delaunay triangulations, which also lets us generalize a recent result by Löffler and Snoeyink about Delaunay triangulations for imprecise points [110]. Finally, we consider randomized incremental constructions when the input permutation is generated by a bounded-degree Markov chain, and show that the resulting running time is almost optimal for chains with a constant eigenvalue gap.

We present a new and simple randomized algorithm for constructing the Delaunay triangulation using nearest-neighbor graphs for point location. It runs in linear expected time for points in the plane with polynomially bounded spread, i.e., if the ratio between the largest and smallest pointwise distance is polynomially bounded. This also holds for point sets with bounded spread in higher dimensions as long as the expected complexity of the Delaunay triangulation of a sample of the points is linear in the sample size. Chan and Patracu [6, 7] presented o(N log N) randomized algorithms for constructing Voronoi Diagrams of points in the plane (from which the Delaunay triangulation can be computed in linear time and vice-versa) under suitable models of computation. We improve on these results by presenting an O(N) randomized algorithm for the Delaunay triangulation in the plane in a di erent model. The algorithm is not restricted to two dimensions and it runs in linear expected time as long as the expected complexity of the Delaunay triangulation of a random sample of the input points is linear in the sample size. An example of linear complexity Delaunay triangulation are suitably sampled (d − 1)-dimensional polyhedra in