Hi everyone, I'm working on a path finding application in C# and I've run into a problem before I even start looking into coding the path finding aspect. The application will allow a user to place a marker on the map of the building then show the user the nearest exit from that position. I have the maps of the building I need but I'm not sure if I can use them straight away as jpeg images.
Would I be able to use the maps as they are or would it be better to remake them in a grid format so its all split up into squares? I'm thinking it may be easier to code the path finding aspect if the maps were made up of squares in a grid but it may take some time to remake the maps in this format.
Any advice is greatly appreciated, I do have experience in C# but path finding is a fairly new subject to me so I'm not sure of the best format for the maps to be in.
Thanks in advance!
Well, if you can afford some manual data processing, the best way would be to simply build a graph of the aisles and store it. You can then use simple graph search algorithms to find the nearest exit. Even spliting it into a grid is an overkill.
I've used this before to build graphs of aisles and stores in commerce buildings, and it's very useful and simple to implement.