Shortest distance between point and path
for a geo-based online game I'm looking for an algorithm which finds the shortest distance between a specified point and a known path connected by x/y-coordinates, so that I can kill all redundant points/nodes. A link or keyword for this algorithm would help me a lot! thanks for reading
For better understanding:
Are you wanting to calculate this in order to say something like "if the point-to-path distance is zero, then remove the point"? If so, then there is probably an easier way to remove redundant nodes. Take the points three at a time (call them A, B, and C). Calculate the angle between A and B, as well as the angle between B and C. If the two angles are the same, then point B lies in the path between A and C and is redundant. You can use the 'atan2' function (or your language's equivalent) to do the angle calculations.