In
geometry, a
polygonal chain is a connected series of
line segments. More formally, a polygonal chain
P is a
curve specified by a
sequence of points
![](http://info.babylon.com/onlinebox.cgi?rt=GetFile&uri=!!ARV6FUJ2JP&type=0&index=252)
called its
vertices. The curve itself consists of the line segments connecting the consecutive vertices. A polygonal chain may also be called a
polygonal curve,
polygonal path,
polyline,
piecewise linear curve, or, in
geographic information systems, a
linestring or
linear ring.