Many-to-One Boundary Labeling with Backbones

Abstract: In this paper we study \emph{many-to-one boundary labeling with backbone leaders}. In this new many-to-one model, a horizontal backbone reaches out of each label into the feature-enclosing rectangle. Feature points that need to be connected to this label are linked via vertical line segments to the backbone. We present dynamic programming algorithms for label number and total leader length minimization of crossing-free backbone labelings. When crossings are allowed, we aim to obtain solutions with the minimum number of crossings. This can be achieved efficiently in the case of fixed label order, however, in the case of flexible label order we show that minimizing the number of leader crossings is NP-hard.