New Method for Finding Optimal Path in Dynamic Networks

Nowadays, urban traffic congestion is a complicated and ubiquitous problem. Continuous changes of traffic congestion with respect to the time lead to change the travel times of transportation network. These changes show the importance of time in transportation analyses in addition to the location. So determining the optimal path in a time-dependent transportation network is a challenging task.This article proposes the spatial analysis of finding the optimal path between two specific locations in a network that its traffic congestion changes continuously. Conventional algorithms are analyzed, and their features and constraints are evaluated. Then, a new method based on the partitioning space-time is presented. In the proposed method, some heuristic functions which are extracted from graph features have been used to guide the solution in each partition. Finally, a business model for collecting traffic data is introduced. Using this model could help the traffic managers to have real-time traffic data in different times and locations. Also, it could help the users to obtain the best route in their urban trips using GIS analyses like finding the optimal path.