distance2curve

Find the closest point on a (n-dimensional) curve to any given point or set of points
7.5K Downloads
Updated 27 Feb 2013

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I've seen many people ask for a way to find the closest point on a curve from some given point in space. If the curve is a piecewise linear one, this is not too difficult, since this reduces to finding the closest point on a line segment, and then testing each line segment. (With care, you need not test EVERY line segment.)

For a cubic spline however, this becomes more difficult, but still doable in a mathematical sense without an explicit optimization. Not too much more than roots is necessary.

Distance2curve allows you to specify a set of general points in an n-dimensional space as a connected space curve. A spline (or pchip) is then fit in terms of arc length along the curve, and the closest point identified.

Cite As

John D'Errico (2024). distance2curve (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/34869-distance2curve), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

MATLAB Release Compatibility
Created with R2011a
Compatible with any release
Platform Compatibility
Windows macOS Linux
Acknowledgements

Inspired: jdugge/xy2sn

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Version Published Release Notes
1.1.0.0

Bug fix: if nargout >= 2

1.0.0.0