Senior Project Sprint 5: A*
This week I began work on route planning for trips. I began with the more straight forward route option, direct routes. To accomplish this I plan to use the A* heuristical search algorithm. A* is an extension of a best first search. To improve upon this, A* aims to avoid searching possible paths that are already expensive. Using a heuristic, g + h (g is the cost so far to reach the node, and h is the estimated cost from the node to the goal), A* is able to find the optimal path. I plan to use this as one option in ship2pd. The other method would be a “green” path in which the app will take advantage of everyday routes people travel. I plan to begin that path finding next week, I am still trying to figure out the best method to implement this, and it is proving more difficult than I expected.
This post and project (ship2pd) are requirements toward a senior project at The College of New Jersey’s Interactive Multimedia Department.
ship2pd is a new kind of shipping network. By taking advantage of everyday routes, ship2pd hopes to get the package to its recipient quicker, cheaper, friendlier, and greener. Think Uber for shipping.
