Routing in a Network Data Model

Routing in a Network Data Model

Routing in a network data model can be simulated if the impedance is available to links and nodes. For links, impedance is often characterized by travel time, while turn penalties are often used to characterize impedance at nodes; how difficult (if possible) it is to turn in one direction, as opposed to another. The above network represents a typical routing “traveling salesperson” problem. Starting and ending at a warehouse, a delivery truck has a set of deliveries and pickups to perform. The locations of those pickup and delivery points could have been derived from address matching (geocoding).  Considering link and node (turn penalties) impedance attributes that are encoded in the network data model, it is possible to plot an optimal route minimizing travel time that would satisfy basic constraints related to the start and end points, pickup and delivery points, as well as link and turn penalty impedance.