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The ACM Journal of Experimental Algorithmics


Volume 4, Article 6, 1999


A Computational Study of Routing Algorithms for Realistic Transportation Networks

by

Riko Jakob

and

Madhav Marathe

and

Kai Nagel

http://www.jea.acm.org/1999/JacobRouting/


Abstract:

We carry out an experimental analysis of a number of shortest path (routing) algorithms investigated in the context of the TRANSIMS (TRansportation ANalysis and SIMulation System) project. The main focus of the paper is to study how various heuristic as well as exact solutions and associated data structures affect the computational performance of the software developed for realistic transportation networks. For this purpose we have used a road network representing with a high degree of resolution the Dallas -- Fort Worth urban area.

We discuss and experimentally analyze various one-to-one shortest path algorithms. These include classical exact algorithms studied in the literature as well as heuristic solutions that are designed to take into account the geometric structure of the input instances.

Computational results are provided to empirically compare the efficiency of various algorithms. Our studies indicate that a modified Dijkstra's algorithm is computationally fast and an excellent candidate for use in various transportation planning applications as well as ITS related technologies.

Received
Accepted
Final Revision
Published
April 1, 1999
February 3, 2000
February 4, 2000
May 10, 2000

Last updated and validated May 10, 2000, by editor@jea.acm.org