Based on the dimensionality reduction technique and the solution for proximate points problem, we achieve the optimality of the three-dimensional Euclidean distance transform (3D_EDT) computation. For an N N N binary image, our algorithms for both 3D_EDT and its applications can be performed in O (log log N) time using CRCW processors or in O (log N) time using EREW processors. To the best of our knowledge, all results described above are the best known. As for the n-dimensional Euclidean distance transform (nD_EDT) and its applications of a binary image of size Nn, all of them can be computed in O (nlog log N) time using CRCW processors or in O (nlog N) time using EREW processors.