  We provide linear-time algorithms for geometric graphs with sublinearly many
crossings. That is, we provide algorithms running in O(n) time on connected
geometric graphs having n vertices and k crossings, where k is smaller than n
by an iterated logarithmic factor. Specific problems we study include Voronoi
diagrams and single-source shortest paths. Our algorithms all run in linear
time in the standard comparison-based computational model; hence, we make no
assumptions about the distribution or bit complexities of edge weights, nor do
we utilize unusual bit-level operations on memory words. Instead, our
algorithms are based on a planarization method that "zeroes in" on edge
crossings, together with methods for extending planar separator decompositions
to geometric graphs with sublinearly many crossings. Incidentally, our
planarization algorithm also solves an open computational geometry problem of
Chazelle for triangulating a self-intersecting polygonal chain having n
segments and k crossings in linear time, for the case when k is sublinear in n
by an iterated logarithmic factor.

Computational Geometry;Discrete Mathematics;Data Structures and Algorithms;Graphics