ScenicRoutePlanning

James Michaels
December 10, 2010

Overview

This project is the implementation of a GPS system that takes in output from the OpenMaps project and uses it to generate a path to a destination based on a scenic route, avoiding major highways. The route will still be fairly direct, though not necessarily as short as it could be.

Screenshot

Concepts Demonstrated

A* Search - The program decides on its next move by utilizing a heuristic based on the shortest possible distance to determine where the next appropriate intersection is.
Heuristics - The program includes a heuristic to provide additional information about the state space.

Innovation

The project is innovative because it encourages the consumer to relax and enjoy a scenic route as opposed to just rushing from place to place. Also, a sort-of-optimal path is actually harder to determine than an optimal one.

Technology Used Block Diagram

Evaluation of Results

The project loads in a huge amount of data, and the results are evaluated based on the route it takes, and how it arrives at the destination.

Additional Remarks

The project isn't quite complete yet, and as such, doesn't have a useful user interface yet. I'm working on it, though.