Images, videos, three-dimensional CAD-models, and even complete virtual worlds are increasingly used to store information about the world around us. To effectively use such information we need efficient techniques to create it, analyze it, retrieve it, simulate its behavior, and visualize it.

The Center for Geometry, Imaging and Virtual Environments (GIVE) of the Institute of Information and Computing Sciences at Utrecht University, headed by professor Mark Overmars, studies such techniques in a fundamental as well as an application oriented way. The center participates in the research school ASCI. The three main lines of research are:

Geometric Algorithms
In many areas of computer science it is necessary to store, analyze, and create or manipulate spatial data. We study the algorithmic aspects of these tasks: we perform a fundamental research in this area, and we design geometric algorithms and data structures for various application areas.

Imaging and Multimedia
The amount of digitally acquired and stored images is so large that we need computerized analysis and retrieval methods, for example for verification? of misuse of? a company logo among one of the millions of images on the Web. We work on feature extraction, segmentation, matching of images, and organization of images in index structures for efficient retrieval, with a focus on medical imaging and shape-based multimedia.

Virtual Environments
Virtual environments give users a truly immersive experience in which they can inspect and manipulate a physically realistic world. Such environments are used for training, understanding and entertainment. Real-time graphics, navigation (or motion) and realistic interaction are key issues in virtual environments.?