Pamela, that looks like a nice potential solution - I tried it with a sample set of data similar to that which I saw in my canvassing, and it came up with a reasonable looking route (and was quick). It will need a little bit of coding to integrate with whatever they have now, but I guess that's true of any solution. There is a basic file import here so it might be possible to do something quick but a little clunky based on some manual file exports and imports and a bit of spreadsheet manipulation or whatever.
On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 2:24 PM, pamela fox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Since they're already using the Google Maps API, they could try to > adapt the javascript-ified TSP solver: > http://gebweb.net/optimap/ > > Only works well for about 25 points though--but you could use > pre-sorting to divide it up into 4 possible best clusters, and then > apply the TSP solving on each of them. > > > On Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 4:10 AM, Jennifer Strahan > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello Peter, Michael, Josh and Geowankers, > > > > Thanks for the detailed description of the problem and for the potential > > solutions. > > > > Does anyone know if there already exists a tool that canvassers can > > use? Peter is correct that time is of the essence so there isn't any > > time to develop anything. Or, are there any folks in the group willing > > to put in some volunteer time to quickly create something? > > > > Jennifer > > > > Peter Batty wrote: > >> This is actually a (somewhat constrained) traveling salesman problem > >> rather than requiring a point to point route, so Google Maps routing > >> won't help you. pgrouting supports traveling salesman but I haven't > >> used it and don't know what a practical number of points to handle is > >> - traveling salesman is a complex problem of course. I was out > >> canvassing for the xxxxx campaign recently (the number of x's is a > >> clue, in my case at least :) !!), so was an end user of what I assume > >> to be the same system here. Of course I immediately wondered about a > >> better automated solution than they had also. > >> > >> I thought it was an interesting problem though so it's worth > >> explaining it in a little more detail based on my experience. We went > >> out in pairs, and were each given a package of paper sheets. The cover > >> page had a printed Google map with markers indicating the houses we > >> were to visit (this was the same map for both of us). Then behind that > >> we had a set of printed sheets, one or more per street, listing the > >> houses we needed to visit on each street in numerical order, with > >> details about the person/people to talk to at that house. We were just > >> visiting houses of known sporadic supporters and independents, so it > >> was a subset of houses - in this case it would vary from maybe 1 to 4 > >> out of every 10 houses. One canvasser had odd numbers and one even > >> numbers, so you would do opposite sides of the street, so you had > >> someone in the same general area for support. Often you would have > >> more houses in a block on one side of the street than the other, so > >> one person would get ahead of the other. In the area that we were > >> canvassing, the blocks were long and thin, so we ended up walking > >> along the blocks "lengthwise" as most of the addresses we had were on > >> the north-south streets, but it was hard to tell if you were close to > >> a house on one of the east-west streets (on a different page from the > >> one that you were currently looking at). We ended up missing out some > >> of these. In total we had 90 houses in the package, 45 each. > >> > >> So what we really wanted was to each have a list of our 45 houses in a > >> suitable order for us to visit (as opposed to being listed street by > >> street in numerical order), with a map showing the route. Doing the > >> odd / even thing properly is an extra complication (i.e. taking 90 > >> houses and coming up with two routes, which ideally keep the two > >> people close to each other). The simplest initial solution to this > >> would probably be to take all 90 houses, come up with the best route > >> to all those, and then just split it into odd and even after doing > >> that. If you got that working, then you could look at something > cleverer. > >> > >> It seems as though for pgrouting you would need to have a reasonable > >> street network, which you may or may not have. In some cases, > >> especially if you had a pretty dense set of houses to visit, you might > >> be able to get a reasonable solution just using the locations of the > >> houses and ignoring streets altogether - but clearly in some cases > >> this would not work well. > >> > >> A pragmatic short term solution might be a semi-interactive one - > >> display the houses to visit on a map, let a user sketch a line > >> visually with an approximate route, buffer around that and find all > >> the houses close, and sort them appropriately based on that. And have > >> the ability to highlight any houses that were not yet added to the > >> route, etc. I suspect that for a short term solution (which is > >> presumably what you need), given the challenge of getting a good road > >> network, etc, this approach may be your best bet. It would need a bit > >> of custom development though, unless someone happens to have something > >> like that lying around. > >> > >> Cheers, > >> Peter. > >> > >> On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 12:01 AM, Josh Livni > >> <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> > wrote: > >> > >> pgrouting if you have the street data in postgis would be one way. > >> > >> tho as long as they're drawing over google maps, why not insert a > >> little javascript to use the gmaps api routing? > >> > >> -josh > >> > >> > >> On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 1:03 AM, Jennifer Strahan > >> <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: > >> > >> Hello Geowankers, > >> > >> I'm forwarding this email from a colleague in hopes that > >> someone will > >> have some suggestions to pass on. > >> > >> Thanks for the help. > >> > >> Regards, > >> Jennifer > >> > >> ps. I've stripped out political references.... that's why > >> you'll see > >> xxxxx campaign. > >> > >> -------- Original Message -------- > >> Subject: GIS routing question > >> Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:32:43 -0700 (PDT) > >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> References: > >> < > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> <mailto: > [EMAIL PROTECTED]>> > >> > >> > >> > >> Hi All > >> > >> My partner is working for the xxxxx campaign and was asked by > >> the regional campaign office to look for computer-based > >> routing solutions for canvassing. > >> > >> Nationally, all the campaign offices use a networked, > >> web-browser-accessible database called VoteBuilder. It manages > >> contacts and lets field coordinators define canvassing > >> territories by drawing over a Google map. > >> > >> VoteBuilder doesn't construct a route for the canvassers-- > >> that's up to them. In suburban neighborhoods with winding > >> roads and cul-de-sacs it's almost impossible for them to come > >> up with an efficient route that doesn't miss some of the > >> households. > >> > >> Some of the local and regional offices have adopted software > >> solutions for routing, but the techniques aren't being > >> disseminated. > >> > >> I know there's an extension for ArcGIS to do routing. Is this > >> the only solution? > >> > >> Thanks for any suggestions.. > >> > >> Louis > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Geowanking mailing list > >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > >> http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Geowanking mailing list > >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > >> http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Peter Batty - President, Spatial Networking > >> W: +1 303 339 0957 M: +1 720 346 3954 > >> Blog: http://geothought.blogspot.com > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Geowanking mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Geowanking mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > > > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > -- Peter Batty - President, Spatial Networking W: +1 303 339 0957 M: +1 720 346 3954 Blog: http://geothought.blogspot.com
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