  An \emph{obstacle representation} of a graph consists of a set of polygonal
obstacles and a distinct point for each vertex such that two points see each
other if and only if the corresponding vertices are adjacent. Obstacle
representations are a recent generalization of classical polygon--vertex
visibility graphs, for which the characterization and recognition problems are
long-standing open questions.
  In this paper, we study \emph{plane outside-obstacle representations}, where
all obstacles lie in the unbounded face of the representation and no two
visibility segments cross. We give a combinatorial characterization of the
biconnected graphs that admit such a representation. Based on this
characterization, we present a simple linear-time recognition algorithm for
these graphs. As a side result, we show that the plane vertex--polygon
visibility graphs are exactly the maximal outerplanar graphs and that every
chordal outerplanar graph has an outside-obstacle representation.
