Determining directional distances between points and shorelines using sweep line technique

Distances from points to closest shorelines in a given direction are used, for example, in some models for estimating wave exposure. Such distances, also called fetch lengths, can be determined using standard geographic information systems. However, performance may be a problem if these distances are required for a great number of study points. Two new algorithms for determining fetch lengths for study points in the same directions are presented in this paper. It is assumed that the two-dimensional map is stored in vector format, i.e. shorelines of islands and mainland are stored as polygons. The first algorithm works on a set of undirected line segments derived from the shoreline polygons. The other works on a raster representation of the map. The algorithm saves memory by postponing the rasterisation until necessary. Both of the new algorithms have superior efficiency to a previously reported algorithm when the number of study points is large.