2/3D Geometry: How to optimally align two lists of points

Question

The problem I am trying to solve is as follows: Given two lists of equal length containing points, find a mapping that minimizes the sum of distances between pairs. The reason I'm trying to do this is to find the closest points in two polygons for a genetic algorithm I'm building, that would ideally line up two genes based on the output of this computation to maximize the spatial similarity.

that's a little vague, more info please? – Chris Ballance Feb 20 '09 at 05:40 — Chris Ballance, Feb 20 '09 at 05:40

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 20 '09 at 05:42

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This is known as the linear assignment problem. The Hungarian algorithm is one way to solve it.

answered Feb 20 '09 at 05:42

Zach Scrivena

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Thank you for the name, that helped my search a lot. – Evan Senter Feb 20 '09 at 07:15

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

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I actually asked basically the same question a few days ago here. There are a bunch of good links to explanations of possible solutions including simulated annealing.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

Community

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answered Feb 20 '09 at 06:18

MahlerFive

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2/3D Geometry: How to optimally align two lists of points

2 Answers2