Hi David,<div><br></div><div>We have implemented something like this last year for pgRouting (extension of PostGIS/PostgreSQL). It's very similar to what you describe. </div><div>Our goal was to have some genetic algorithm to solve the dial-a-ride problem for bus-on-demand as described here <a href="http://openvrp.com/blog/darp-algorithm-in-pgrouting/" target="_blank">http://openvrp.com/blog/darp-algorithm-in-pgrouting/</a> or here <a href="http://georepublic.de/en/projects/openvrp/" target="_blank">http://georepublic.de/en/projects/openvrp/</a></div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://openvrp.com/blog/darp-algorithm-in-pgrouting/" target="_blank"></a>It was a funded research project and we're currently implementing a real bus-on-demand system using taxis and micro-buses.</div>
<div>There are plenty of similar problems related to VRP and a lot of possibilities to add new functionality as you describe. If you're interested you can join the pgRouting community (<a href="http://www.pgrouitng.org" target="_blank">http://www.pgrouitng.org</a>) and we can discuss details there.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Best regards,</div><div>Daniel</div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2011/2/15 cremat0rio <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:davidsantospinheiro@gmail.com" target="_blank">davidsantospinheiro@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><br>
Hi everyone!<br>
<br>
I’m new on this list, so all the best for all of you and for OSGeo!<br>
<br>
I’m writing to get some advice. For my master degree project, I’ll try to<br>
create some code to solve Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) through Evolutionary<br>
Computation techniques (Genetic Algorithms and stuff like that). It would be<br>
very good to put this code to work on some GIS desktop Software and make it<br>
simple to use, suitable for any layperson.<br>
<br>
VRP is a problem where you have some vehicles that need to serve some<br>
places, and you want to distribute them through that area reducing their<br>
overall cost (is terms of fuel consumption, time spent, eco impact, etc.).<br>
For example, distributing waste collection trucks to different areas of a<br>
city, or mailmen’s through some city, or some companies’ trucks that need to<br>
serve mail packages to a country, etc… All this problems have in common that<br>
we want the vehicles (or humans) to be routed on the network to serve some<br>
locations.<br>
In terms of implementation we need a LINESTRING layer representing the road<br>
network (of some city, for example) and a POINT (or POLYGON) layer<br>
representing the places that need to be visited (served). Then given some<br>
vehicle’s positions and capacities, and some charging/discharging places the<br>
code would calculate good routes that minimize the mentioned costs.<br>
<br>
As I’ve said, it would be good for this package/software to be suitable for<br>
use for any person, so a Desktop GIS implementation would be good.<br>
The problem is that there seems to be two main computing language paradigms<br>
in the FOOS4G Desktop GIS software’s, Java vs C++. Which one to choose?<br>
Which DesktopGis software? Or should I implement something (some function)<br>
in Postgres/Postgis? Or on the command line (on top of OGR)?<br>
In the beginning I thought that a plugin for QuantumGis would be the best<br>
option because the plugins are relatively independent of the core<br>
developer’s work/supervision, and anyone can choose to install it or not.<br>
But this way people that use Java based DesktopGIS (like gvSig) couldn’t<br>
benefit from this work…<br>
So, I’m asking for your kind advice.<br>
<br>
Any help/advice will be much appreciated!<br>
<br>
All the best,<br>
David Pinheiro<br>
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</font></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><span style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;border-collapse:collapse">Georepublic UG & Georepublic Japan<br>eMail: <a href="mailto:daniel.kastl@georepublic.de" style="color:rgb(66, 99, 171)" target="_blank">daniel.kastl@georepublic.de</a><br>
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