4-connected planar graphs are in $B_3$-EPG

Abstract

We show that every 4-connected planar graph has a $B_3$-EPG representation, i.e., every vertex is represented by a curve on the grid with at most three bends, and two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding curves share an edge of the grid. Our construction is based on a modification of the representation by touching thickened $L$-shapes proposed by Gon\c{c}alves et al.