  In the Maximum Weight Independent Set of Rectangles (MWISR) problem we are
given a set of n axis-parallel rectangles in the 2D-plane, and the goal is to
select a maximum weight subset of pairwise non-overlapping rectangles. Due to
many applications, e.g. in data mining, map labeling and admission control, the
problem has received a lot of attention by various research communities. We
present the first (1+epsilon)-approximation algorithm for the MWISR problem
with quasi-polynomial running time 2^{poly(log n/epsilon)}. In contrast, the
best known polynomial time approximation algorithms for the problem achieve
superconstant approximation ratios of O(log log n) (unweighted case) and O(log
n / log log n) (weighted case).
  Key to our results is a new geometric dynamic program which recursively
subdivides the plane into polygons of bounded complexity. We provide the
technical tools that are needed to analyze its performance. In particular, we
present a method of partitioning the plane into small and simple areas such
that the rectangles of an optimal solution are intersected in a very controlled
manner. Together with a novel application of the weighted planar graph
separator theorem due to Arora et al. this allows us to upper bound our
approximation ratio by (1+epsilon).
  Our dynamic program is very general and we believe that it will be useful for
other settings. In particular, we show that, when parametrized properly, it
provides a polynomial time (1+epsilon)-approximation for the special case of
the MWISR problem when each rectangle is relatively large in at least one
dimension. Key to this analysis is a method to tile the plane in order to
approximately describe the topology of these rectangles in an optimal solution.
This technique might be a useful insight to design better polynomial time
approximation algorithms or even a PTAS for the MWISR problem.
