Local Routing in Sparse and Lightweight Geometric Graphs

Abstract: Online routing in a planar embedded graph is central to a number of fields and has been studied extensively in the literature. For most planar graphs no $O(1)$-competitive online routing algorithm exists. A notable exception is the Delaunay triangulation for which Bose and Morin [Online routing in triangulations. SIAM Journal on Computing, 33(4):937-951, 2004] showed that there exists an online routing algorithm that is $O(1)$-competitive. However, a Delaunay triangulation can have $\Omega(n)$ vertex degree and a total weight that is a linear factor greater than the weight of a minimum spanning tree. We show a simple construction, given a set $V$ of $n$ points in the Euclidean plane, of a planar geometric graph on $V$ that has small weight (within a constant factor of the weight of a minimum spanning tree on $V$), constant degree, and that admits a local routing strategy that is $O(1)$-competitive. Moreover, the technique used to bound the weight works generally for any planar geometric graph whilst preserving the admission of an $O(1)$-competitive routing strategy.