Calculate Minimum Bounding Rectangle Of 2D Shape By Coordinates

Question

I have a solution that uses spatial data to represent a cluster of points on a map. I have the need to used the coordinates that represent the extents of a cluster to find the m

Answer 1

One possible, though simple, way to do it could be like this:

public Rectangle Test(List points)
{
    // Add checks here, if necessary, to make sure that points is not null,
    // and that it contains at least one (or perhaps two?) elements

    var minX = points.Min(p => p.X);
    var minY = points.Min(p => p.Y);
    var maxX = points.Max(p => p.X);
    var maxY = points.Max(p => p.Y);

    return new Rectangle(new Point(minX, minY), new Size(maxX-minX, maxY-minY));
}

This does of course assume that you're looking for a rectangle that is aligned vertically and horizontally. So if you're looking for the smallest possible rectangle, no matter how it is rotated, this is not for you.