FINDING SHORTEST PATHS ON SURFACES USING LEVEL SETS PROPAGATION

We present a nerv algorithm for determining minimal length paths betwe en two regions on a three dimensional surface, The numerical implement ation is based on finding equal geodesic distance contours from a give n area, These contours are calculated as zero sets of a bivariate func tion designed to evolve so as to track the equal distance curves on th e given surface, The algorithm produces all paths of minimal length be tween the source and destination areas on the surface given as height values on a rectangular grid.