The simplest heuristic with reasonable performance is 2-opt. Put the points in an array, with the start point first and the end point last, and repeatedly attempt to improve the solution as follows. Choose a starting index i and an ending index j and reverse the subarray from i to j. If the total cost is less, then keep this change, otherwise undo it. Note that the total cost will be less if and only if d(p[i - 1], p[i]) + d(p[j], p[j + 1]) > d(p[i - 1], p[j]) + d(p[i], p[j + 1]), so you can avoid performing the swap unless it's an improvement.
There are a possible number of improvements to this method. 3-opt and k-opt consider more possible moves, resulting in better solution quality. Data structures for geometric search, kd-trees for example, decrease the time to find improving moves. As far as I know, the state of the art in local search algorithms for TSP is Keld Helsgaun's LKH.
Another family of algorithms is branch and bound. These return optimal solutions. Concorde (as far as I know) is the state of the art here.
Here's a Java implementation of the O(n^2 2^n) DP that Niklas described. There are many possible improvements, e.g., cache the distances between points, switch to floats (maybe), reorganize the iteration so that subsets are enumerating in increasing order of size (to allow only the most recent layer of minTable
to be retained, resulting in a significant space saving).
class Point {
private final double x, y;
Point(double x, double y) {
this.x = x;
this.y = y;
}
double distanceTo(Point that) {
return Math.hypot(x - that.x, y - that.y);
}
public String toString() {
return x + " " + y;
}
}
public class TSP {
public static int[] minLengthPath(Point[] points) {
if (points.length < 2) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException();
}
int n = points.length - 2;
if ((1 << n) <= 0) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException();
}
byte[][] argMinTable = new byte[1 << n][n];
double[][] minTable = new double[1 << n][n];
for (int s = 0; s < (1 << n); s++) {
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
int sMinusI = s & ~(1 << i);
if (sMinusI == s) {
continue;
}
int argMin = -1;
double min = points[0].distanceTo(points[1 + i]);
for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
if ((sMinusI & (1 << j)) == 0) {
continue;
}
double cost =
minTable[sMinusI][j] +
points[1 + j].distanceTo(points[1 + i]);
if (argMin < 0 || cost < min) {
argMin = j;
min = cost;
}
}
argMinTable[s][i] = (byte)argMin;
minTable[s][i] = min;
}
}
int s = (1 << n) - 1;
int argMin = -1;
double min = points[0].distanceTo(points[1 + n]);
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
double cost =
minTable[s][i] +
points[1 + i].distanceTo(points[1 + n]);
if (argMin < 0 || cost < min) {
argMin = i;
min = cost;
}
}
int[] path = new int[1 + n + 1];
path[1 + n] = 1 + n;
int k = n;
while (argMin >= 0) {
path[k] = 1 + argMin;
k--;
int temp = s;
s &= ~(1 << argMin);
argMin = argMinTable[temp][argMin];
}
path[0] = 0;
return path;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Point[] points = new Point[20];
for (int i = 0; i < points.length; i++) {
points[i] = new Point(Math.random(), Math.random());
}
int[] path = minLengthPath(points);
for (int i = 0; i < points.length; i++) {
System.out.println(points[path[i]]);
System.err.println(points[i]);
}
}
}