Points and Polygons
Ever wanted to know if some points of interest were inside a region? You can answer that if the region is specified as a polygon in MATLAB. The key is the inpolygon function.
Contents
Polygons
Polygons in two dimensions are generally represented in MATLAB with two arrays, locations for the X vertices and Y vertices. There is no need to have the final points in these match the initial points; that is, when arrays as described are used in situations where they are interpreted as polygon vertices, the polygon is automatically closed.
Let's define a very simple polygon to start.
X = [0 0.5 1]'; Y = [0 0.5 0]';
And look at it.
patch(X,Y, [0.2, 0.7, 0.8], 'edgecolor','r',... 'facealpha', 0.2, 'linewidth',2); axis([0 1 -0.2 1])
Some Points of Interest
Let's create some points of interest now. Some inside, some outside, and some on the boundary.
xin = [0.3 0.75 0.82]'; yin = [0.25 0.1, 0.05]'; xout = [0.3 0.75 0.82]'; yout = [-0.15 0.6, 0.3]'; xedge = [0.3 0.75 0.82]'; yedge = [0.3 0.25, 0.18]'; hold all plot(xin, yin, 'g*', 'markersize',5) plot(xout, yout, 'mx', 'markersize',9) plot(xedge, yedge, 'bd', 'markersize',7) hold off
Test the Points with the Polygon
[inIN onIN] = inpolygon(xin,yin, X, Y)
inIN = 1 1 1 onIN = 0 0 0
[inOUT onOUT] = inpolygon(xout,yout, X, Y)
inOUT = 0 0 0 onOUT = 0 0 0
[inEDGE onEDGE] = inpolygon(xedge,yedge, X, Y)
inEDGE = 1 1 1 onEDGE = 1 1 1
Multiply-connected Polygon
Here's an example from the help for inpolygon, with a square containing a square hole. The outer loop is counterclockwise, the inner clockwise.
xv = [0 3 3 0 0 NaN 1 1 2 2 1]; yv = [0 0 3 3 0 NaN 1 2 2 1 1]; x = rand(1000,1)*3; y = rand(1000,1)*3; in = inpolygon(x,y,xv,yv); plot(xv,yv,x(in),y(in),'.r',x(~in),y(~in),'.b')
Do You Work with Points and Polygons?
Have you used inpolygon? I'd love to hear the contexts of the problems you solve with it.
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