[GIS] JTS Polygon simplification without holes

Question

I have a set of polygons without holes. I wish to merge any intersecting polygons. I don't want to have any holes in my simplified polygons. Is there a recommended way to achieve this using JTS?

The (naive) algorithm I am using now is:

private List<com.vividsolutions.jts.geom.Polygon> simplify(List<com.vividsolutions.jts.geom.Polygon> polygons) {
boolean done;
do {
done = true;
for (int i = 0; i < polygons.size(); i++) {
    Polygon a = polygons.get(i);
    if (0 != a.getNumInteriorRing()) {
        throw new RuntimeException();
    }
    for (int j = i + 1; j < polygons.size();) {
        final Polygon b = polygons.get(j);
        if (a.intersects(b)) {
            polygons.set(i, (Polygon) a.union(b));
            a = polygons.get(i);
            polygons.remove(j);
            done = false;
        }
        else {
            j++;
        }
    }
}
} while (!done);
return polygons;
}

Answer 1

Get your all intersecting polygons into a geometry collection (ArrayList) and use JTS UnaryUnion method to merge all polygons at one go. Then convert your geometry into JTS Polygon and use its getExteriorRing() method to remove holes.