Planar osculating arc splines Original Research Article

A new method for drawing planar osculating arc splines, G1 curves made by joining circular arcs, is described. The arc splines interpolate, match unit tangents, and match curvatures at the interpolation points. Arc splines produced by this new method match more general data, and thus give a more controlled curve, than arc splines produced from biarcs. The accuracy of arc splines produced by the new method is analyzed and compared to the accuracy of arc splines produced from biarcs when both are approximating smooth curves. When both have the same number of circular arcs, the new method produces an arc spline with a smaller error than the arc spline produced from biarcs.