How can I determine whether a 2D Point is within a Polygon?

Question

I\'m trying to create a fast 2D point inside polygon algorithm, for use in hit-testing (e.g. Polygon.contains(p:Point)). Suggestions for effective tech

Answer 1

Here is a C# version of the answer given by nirg, which comes from this RPI professor. Note that use of the code from that RPI source requires attribution.

A bounding box check has been added at the top. However, as James Brown points out, the main code is almost as fast as the bounding box check itself, so the bounding box check can actually slow the overall operation, in the case that most of the points you are checking are inside the bounding box. So you could leave the bounding box check out, or an alternative would be to precompute the bounding boxes of your polygons if they don't change shape too often.

public bool IsPointInPolygon( Point p, Point[] polygon )
{
    double minX = polygon[ 0 ].X;
    double maxX = polygon[ 0 ].X;
    double minY = polygon[ 0 ].Y;
    double maxY = polygon[ 0 ].Y;
    for ( int i = 1 ; i < polygon.Length ; i++ )
    {
        Point q = polygon[ i ];
        minX = Math.Min( q.X, minX );
        maxX = Math.Max( q.X, maxX );
        minY = Math.Min( q.Y, minY );
        maxY = Math.Max( q.Y, maxY );
    }

    if ( p.X < minX || p.X > maxX || p.Y < minY || p.Y > maxY )
    {
        return false;
    }

    // https://wrf.ecse.rpi.edu/Research/Short_Notes/pnpoly.html
    bool inside = false;
    for ( int i = 0, j = polygon.Length - 1 ; i < polygon.Length ; j = i++ )
    {
        if ( ( polygon[ i ].Y > p.Y ) != ( polygon[ j ].Y > p.Y ) &&
             p.X < ( polygon[ j ].X - polygon[ i ].X ) * ( p.Y - polygon[ i ].Y ) / ( polygon[ j ].Y - polygon[ i ].Y ) + polygon[ i ].X )
        {
            inside = !inside;
        }
    }

    return inside;
}