Some remarks on the geodesic completeness of compact nonpositively curved spaces (Q1826901)

The paper deals with the following question [\textit{W. Ballmann}, Lectures on spaces of nonpositive curvature. With an appendix by Misha Brin: Ergodicity of geodesic flows, Birkhäuser, Basel (1995; Zbl 0834.53003)]: Does a compact nonpositively curved geodesic space \((M,d)\) have a geodesically complete nonpositively curved subspace \(A\) such that the inclusion \(A\hookrightarrow M\) is a homotopy equivalence? In his paper, the author constructs an example of a finite piecewise flat \(3\)-complex \(M\) which is nonpositively curved geodesic space, and which admits no PL geodesically complete nonpositively curved subspace \(A\) of \(M\), and such that the inclusion \(A\hookrightarrow M\) is a homotopy equivalence.