下面是一个基于@Beta答案的算法的简单c#实现。

让我们假设我们有一个Vector类型，它的X和Y属性为double类型。

public bool IsClockwise(IList<Vector> vertices)
{
    double sum = 0.0;
    for (int i = 0; i < vertices.Count; i++) {
        Vector v1 = vertices[i];
        Vector v2 = vertices[(i + 1) % vertices.Count];
        sum += (v2.X - v1.X) * (v2.Y + v1.Y);
    }
    return sum > 0.0;
}

%是执行模运算的模运算符或余数运算符，该运算符(根据维基百科)在一个数除以另一个数后求余数。

根据@MichelRouzic评论的优化版本:

double sum = 0.0;
Vector v1 = vertices[vertices.Count - 1]; // or vertices[^1] with
                                          // C# 8.0+ and .NET Core
for (int i = 0; i < vertices.Count; i++) {
    Vector v2 = vertices[i];
    sum += (v2.X - v1.X) * (v2.Y + v1.Y);
    v1 = v2;
}
return sum > 0.0;

这不仅节省了模运算%，还节省了数组索引。

测试(参见与@WDUK的讨论)

public static bool IsClockwise(IList<(double X, double Y)> vertices)
{
    double sum = 0.0;
    var v1 = vertices[^1];
    for (int i = 0; i < vertices.Count; i++) {
        var v2 = vertices[i];
        sum += (v2.X - v1.X) * (v2.Y + v1.Y);
        Console.WriteLine($"(({v2.X,2}) - ({v1.X,2})) * (({v2.Y,2}) + ({v1.Y,2})) = {(v2.X - v1.X) * (v2.Y + v1.Y)}");
        v1 = v2;
    }
    Console.WriteLine(sum);
    return sum > 0.0;
}

public static void Test()
{
    Console.WriteLine(IsClockwise(new[] { (-5.0, -5.0), (-5.0, 5.0), (5.0, 5.0), (5.0, -5.0) }));

    // infinity Symbol
    //Console.WriteLine(IsClockwise(new[] { (-5.0, -5.0), (-5.0, 5.0), (5.0, -5.0), (5.0, 5.0) }));
}

对于那些不想“重新发明轮子”的人，我认为值得一提的是，这个检查是在一个名为Shapely (github)的漂亮的Python包中实现的(它基于GEOS C/ c++库):

Shapely is a BSD-licensed Python package for manipulation and analysis of planar geometric objects. It is using the widely deployed open-source geometry library GEOS (the engine of PostGIS, and a port of JTS). Shapely wraps GEOS geometries and operations to provide both a feature rich Geometry interface for singular (scalar) geometries and higher-performance NumPy ufuncs for operations using arrays of geometries. Shapely is not primarily focused on data serialization formats or coordinate systems, but can be readily integrated with packages that are.

来源:https://shapely.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

一个给出OP坐标的小例子:

import numpy as np
from shapely.geometry import Polygon

points = np.array([
    (5,0),
    (6,4),
    (4,5),
    (1,5),
    (1,0)
])

P = Polygon(points)

这是新构造的多边形:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x,y = P.exterior.coords.xy
plt.plot(x,y)
plt.axis('equal')
plt.grid()
plt.show()

你可以直接使用LinearRing的is_ccw属性来检查多边形是CW还是CCW:

type(P.exterior)
>: shapely.geometry.polygon.LinearRing

P.exterior.is_ccw
>: True

如果颠倒:

points = np.flipud(points)
points
>: 
array([[1, 0],
       [1, 5],
       [4, 5],
       [6, 4],
       [5, 0]])


P1 = Polygon(points)

P1.exterior.is_ccw
>: True

进一步阅读的文档和参考资料:

shaely is_ccw (github): https://github.com/shapely/shapely/blob/eba985c6e0170ecdd90c83592fd0afa7ae793cb8/shapely/predicates.py#L72-L108 Libgeos (github): https://github.com/libgeos/geos GEOS API参考:https://libgeos.org/doxygen/classgeos_1_1algorithm_1_1Orientation.html#a5af93795969b80f97d7997195974d7c8 GEOS实现(github): https://github.com/libgeos/geos/blob/ab0ce6dafdf7f75ec6d234b6c65bb209037dda17/src/algorithm/Orientation.cpp#L43-L133

虽然这些答案是正确的，但它们在数学上的强度比必要的要大。假设地图坐标，其中最北的点是地图上的最高点。找到最北的点，如果两个点相等，它是最北的，然后是最东的(这是lhf在他的答案中使用的点)。在你的观点中，

点[0]= (5,0)

点[1]= (6,4)

点[2]= (4,5)

点[3]= (1,5)

点[4]= (1,0)

If we assume that P2 is the most north then east point either the previous or next point determine clockwise, CW, or CCW. Since the most north point is on the north face, if the P1 (previous) to P2 moves east the direction is CW. In this case, it moves west, so the direction is CCW as the accepted answer says. If the previous point has no horizontal movement, then the same system applies to the next point, P3. If P3 is west of P2, it is, then the movement is CCW. If the P2 to P3 movement is east, it's west in this case, the movement is CW. Assume that nte, P2 in your data, is the most north then east point and the prv is the previous point, P1 in your data, and nxt is the next point, P3 in your data, and [0] is horizontal or east/west where west is less than east, and [1] is vertical.

if (nte[0] >= prv[0] && nxt[0] >= nte[0]) return(CW);
if (nte[0] <= prv[0] && nxt[0] <= nte[0]) return(CCW);
// Okay, it's not easy-peasy, so now, do the math
if (nte[0] * nxt[1] - nte[1] * nxt[0] - prv[0] * (nxt[1] - crt[1]) + prv[1] * (nxt[0] - nte[0]) >= 0) return(CCW); // For quadrant 3 return(CW)
return(CW) // For quadrant 3 return (CCW)

在测试了几个不可靠的实现之后，在CW/CCW方向方面提供令人满意结果的算法是由OP在这个线程(shoelace_formula_3)中发布的算法。

与往常一样，正数表示CW方向，而负数表示CCW方向。

Javascript实现的lhf的答案 (再次强调，这只适用于简单的多边形，即不适用于图8)

let polygon = [ {x:5,y:0}, {x:6,y:4}, {x:4,y:5}, {x:1,y:5}, {x:1,y:0} ] document.body.innerHTML += `Polygon ${polygon.map(p=>`(${p.x}, ${p.y})`).join(", ")} is clockwise? ${isPolygonClockwise(polygon)}` let reversePolygon = [] polygon.forEach(point=>reversePolygon.unshift(point)) document.body.innerHTML += `<br/>Polygon ${reversePolygon.map(p=>`(${p.x}, ${p.y})`).join(", ")} is clockwise? ${isPolygonClockwise(reversePolygon)}` function isPolygonClockwise (polygon) { // From http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/algorithms-faq/ "How do I find the orientation of a simple polygon?" // THIS SOMETIMES FAILS if the polygon is a figure 8, or similar shape where it crosses over itself // Take the lowest point (break ties with the right-most). if (polygon.length < 3) { return true // A single point or two points can't be clockwise/counterclockwise } let previousPoint = polygon[0] let lowestPoint = polygon[1] let nextPoint = polygon[2] polygon.forEach((point, index)=>{ if (point.y > lowestPoint.y || (point.y === lowestPoint.y && point.x > lowestPoint.x)) { // larger y values are lower, in svgs // Break ties with furthest right previousPoint = polygon[(index-1) >= (0) ? (index-1) : (polygon.length-1)] lowestPoint = polygon[index] nextPoint = polygon[(index+1) <= (polygon.length-1) ? (index+1) : (0)] } }) // Check the angle between the previous point, that point, and the next point. // If the angle is less than PI radians, the polygon is clockwise let angle = findAngle(previousPoint, lowestPoint, nextPoint) return angle < Math.PI } function findAngle(A,B,C) { var AB = Math.atan2(B.y-A.y, B.x-A.x); var BC = Math.atan2(C.y-B.y, C.x-B.x); if (AB < 0) AB += Math.PI*2 if (BC < 0) BC += Math.PI*2 return BC-AB; }

这是OpenLayers 2的实现函数。有一个顺时针多边形的条件是面积< 0，这是由这个参考确定的。

function IsClockwise(feature)
{
    if(feature.geometry == null)
        return -1;

    var vertices = feature.geometry.getVertices();
    var area = 0;

    for (var i = 0; i < (vertices.length); i++) {
        j = (i + 1) % vertices.length;

        area += vertices[i].x * vertices[j].y;
        area -= vertices[j].x * vertices[i].y;
        // console.log(area);
    }

    return (area < 0);
}