Mark Overmars
Encyclopedia
Markus Hendrik Overmars (ˈmɑrk ˈɦɛnˌdrɪk ˈoːvərˌmɑrs) (born 29 September 1958 in Zeist
, Netherlands
) is a Dutch computer scientist
and teacher of game programming known for his game development application Game Maker
. Game Maker lets people create computer games using a drag-and-drop interface. He is the head of the Center for Geometry, Imaging, and Virtual Environments at Utrecht University
, in the Netherlands
. This research center concentrates on computational geometry
and its application in areas like computer graphics
, robotics
, geographic information system
s, imaging, multimedia
, virtual environments, and games.
Overmars received his Ph.D. in 1983 from Utrecht University under the supervision of Jan van Leeuwen
, and has since been a member of the faculty of the same university. Overmars has published over 100 journal papers, largely on computational geometry
, and is the co-author of several books including a widely used computational geometry text. He has an Erdős number
of 3, due to his collaborations with several other computational geometers.
Overmars has also worked in robotics. He was the first to develop the probabilistic roadmap method
in 1992, which was later independently discovered by Kavraki
and Latombe
in 1994. Their joint paper, Probabilistic roadmaps for path planning in high-dimensional configuration spaces, is considered one of the most influential studies in motion planning
, and has been widely cited (more than 1000 times as of 2008).
Zeist
Zeist is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands, located east of the city of Utrecht.-Population centres :*Austerlitz*Bosch en Duin*Den Dolder*Huis ter Heide*Zeist- The town of Zeist :...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
) is a Dutch computer scientist
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and teacher of game programming known for his game development application Game Maker
Game Maker
GameMaker is a Windows and Mac IDE originally developed by Mark Overmars in the Delphi programming language. It is currently developed and published by YoYo Games, a software company in which Overmars is involved...
. Game Maker lets people create computer games using a drag-and-drop interface. He is the head of the Center for Geometry, Imaging, and Virtual Environments at Utrecht University
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
, in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. This research center concentrates on computational geometry
Computational geometry
Computational geometry is a branch of computer science devoted to the study of algorithms which can be stated in terms of geometry. Some purely geometrical problems arise out of the study of computational geometric algorithms, and such problems are also considered to be part of computational...
and its application in areas like computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
, robotics
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
, geographic information system
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
s, imaging, multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
, virtual environments, and games.
Overmars received his Ph.D. in 1983 from Utrecht University under the supervision of Jan van Leeuwen
Jan van Leeuwen
Jan van Leeuwen is a Dutch computer scientist, a professor at the Department of Information and Computing Sciences at the Utrecht University....
, and has since been a member of the faculty of the same university. Overmars has published over 100 journal papers, largely on computational geometry
Computational geometry
Computational geometry is a branch of computer science devoted to the study of algorithms which can be stated in terms of geometry. Some purely geometrical problems arise out of the study of computational geometric algorithms, and such problems are also considered to be part of computational...
, and is the co-author of several books including a widely used computational geometry text. He has an Erdős number
Erdos number
The Erdős number describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.The same principle has been proposed for other eminent persons in other fields.- Overview :...
of 3, due to his collaborations with several other computational geometers.
Overmars has also worked in robotics. He was the first to develop the probabilistic roadmap method
Probabilistic Roadmap Method
The probabilistic roadmap planner is a motion planning algorithm in robotics, which solves the problem of determining a path between a starting configuration of the robot and a goal configuration while avoiding collisions....
in 1992, which was later independently discovered by Kavraki
Lydia Kavraki
Lydia E. Kavraki is a Greek-American computer scientist, the Noah Harding Professor of Computer Science and a professor of bioengineering at Rice University and a professor of structural and computational biology and molecular biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine...
and Latombe
Jean-Claude Latombe
Jean-Claude Latombe is a French-American roboticist and the Kumagai Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University...
in 1994. Their joint paper, Probabilistic roadmaps for path planning in high-dimensional configuration spaces, is considered one of the most influential studies in motion planning
Motion planning
Motion planning is a term used in robotics for the process of detailing a task into discrete motions....
, and has been widely cited (more than 1000 times as of 2008).