Spatial Algorithms and Data Structures

Overview

This area tracks data structures and query procedures for geometric and spatial workloads, especially when locality can be exploited to avoid brute-force search.

Active Questions

• Which spatial indexes best match the distributions and query patterns that show up in robotics, simulation, and interactive systems?
• When do simple structures like quadtrees remain competitive with more specialized indexes?
• How should visualization and pedagogy support trustworthy understanding of pruning-based algorithms?

Key Concepts

• Quadtrees
• Nearest-Neighbor Search

Key Sources

• GrowingSWE2026 - An Interactive Intro to Quadtrees
• Llb4ll2026 - k-Nearest-Neighbor Search using D3 Quadtrees (Gist)
• Llb4ll2026 - k-Nearest-Neighbor Search using D3 Quadtrees (Observable)

Adjacent Foundations

• Algorithms and Data Structures