Area of complex polygons

Hi,

I am trying to calculate the area of complex overlapping polygons
(holes and self-intersecting). In sup****t of this I have written a
simple ear clipping algo.

I have done some basic Google search and come across

GL tesselator
http://www.devmaster.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11019
http://www.gamedev.net/community/for...opic_id=471865
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~dm/CODE/GEM/chapter.html
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/alan/software/
http://www.cosy.sbg.ac.at/~held/proj...ng/triang.html

the questions I have are :

1. Can we use GL tesselator to calculate the area without using it to
do the render.

2. is there a alternative that is available off the shelf.

3. Is there a simple way to do this.

Thanks in advance.