Measurement of boundaries using a digitizer tablet

The perimeter is the most error prone of the primary measurements (length, perimeter and area) made when using a device such as a digitizer tablet to trace profiles on micrographs. To allow for minimization of this error an expression is developed relating the error in the perimeter to the digitizer resolution plus other errors in the entry process. The predictions of this expression are shown to be in good agreement with the results of computer simulation of the tracing process, as well as results from manual tracing using a digitizer tablet. This analysis of the digitizer entry process also provides a method by which an optimal choice of the sample spacing between digitizer coordinates can be made.