Polygon intersections in spherical topology: application to plate tectonics
This paper describes a set of algorithms for performing overlay operations on polygonal regions in spherical topology. A solution to the intersection problem for a polygonal region on the unit sphere with respect to a base set of polygons is proposed. The method is based upon a variant of the point-in-polygon procedure and has been successfully used to reconstruct ancient ocean-floor age maps and plate boundaries.
polygons plate tectonics point-in-polygon computational geometry ocean-floor age grid