Visvalingam-Whyatt polyline simplification algorithm clarification

Question

I\'m trying to implement a polyline simplification algorithm. The original article can be found here: http://archive.is/Tzq2. It seems straightforward in concept but I don\'t un

Answer 1

The essence of the algorithm is ranking of points by their significance. Significance of the point is approximated by its effective area.

Suppose you have eliminated Point A and then recalculated the effective area of Point B. The new area can be larger or smaller than the old one. It can be smaller than the effective area of A. However, the algorithm still views B as more significant than A.

The purpose of the if clause is to ensure that Point B is more significant than A in the final list, that's all.