Combining speed-up techniques for shortest-path computations

Martin Holzer, Frank Schulz, Dorothea Wagner, Thomas Willhalm
2005 ACM Journal of Experimental Algorithmics  
Computing a shortest path from one node to another in a directed graph is a very common task in practice. This problem is classically solved by Dijkstra's algorithm. Many techniques are known to speed up this algorithm heuristically, while optimality of the solution can still be guaranteed. In most studies, such techniques are considered individually. The focus of our work is combination of speed-up techniques for Dijkstra's algorithm. We consider all possible combinations of four known
more » ... es, namely goaldirected search, bidirectional search, multi-level approach, and shortest-path containers, and show how these can be implemented. In an extensive experimental study we compare the performance of the various combinations and analyze how the techniques harmonize when applied jointly. Several real-world graphs from road maps and public transport and three types of generated random graphs are taken into account.
doi:10.1145/1064546.1180616 fatcat:ar6ozx6gzjaqlno4zxvakndtz4