Fillingalong

Fillingalong is a term used in data processing and computer graphics to describe a family of techniques for filling missing or undesired values along a specified dimension or path within a dataset or image.

The term is not widely standardized; it appears in tutorials and domain-specific literature as a descriptive label rather than a formal algorithm. It is often contrasted with fill methods that operate globally across the full array rather than along a path.

Common approaches include linear interpolation or spline interpolation performed along a defined direction, along rows, columns, or a user-specified path; nearest-neighbor copying along the path; and more advanced methods such as kernel smoothing or directional inpainting.

Applications include time-series gap filling where data are better inferred along time, spatial data along a route, image inpainting along contours, and data cleaning in sensor networks.

Choice of direction, path length, and validation method affect accuracy; care must be taken to avoid introducing bias or smoothing out real variation.

See also: imputation, interpolation, inpainting, path-based processing.