An Algorithm for Computing the Minimum Area Bounding Rectangle of an Arbitrary Polygon

The minimum area bounding rectangle(MABR) of an arbitrary polygon is an important tool in the geographic information systems and computer graphics,but how to precisely calculate it is of great difficulty.Firstly,the MABR of an arbitrary polygon shares a common edge with the convex hull of the polygon is proved.Secondly,an algorithm for computing MABR based on this idea is presented and the efficiency of the algorithm is discussed.Finally,some experiments are given to show the feasibility and reliability of the algorithm.