Have you ever spent hours finding the most efficient route for your holiday road trip?
And when you're about to embark on your adventure, you check the weather forecast - only to see rain for days? Now, you must rework your entire route from scratch to avoid driving through endless downpours.
Good news!
We've built a web app that does all this work for you - finding the best route, optimised for pleasant weather, in just a few clicks.
What is the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP)?
Imagine planning a holiday and having a list of places you want to visit. Your goal is to find the shortest possible route that allows you to visit each destination once before returning to your starting point.
Sounds simple? Think again!
As the number of places increases, the number of possible routes grows exponentially. Calculating every possibility and picking the best one quickly becomes impractical.
Real-life uses of TSP optimisation
TSP isn’t just a theoretical puzzle; it’s the foundation for numerous real-world business applications. From optimising delivery routes and supply chains to designing efficient microchips and even mapping genome sequences. Solving it means saving time, money and resources.
So, how do we tackle it? Mathematicians and computer scientists have developed clever algorithms, from heuristics like the Nearest Neighbor and Genetic Algorithms to advanced methods like Branch and Bound and Ant Colony Optimization, to find near-optimal solutions in a reasonable time.
Enhancing routes with weather intelligence
While clever algorithms help minimise travel time, they often ignore one crucial factor: weather. When you're on vacation, you don’t just want the shortest route, you want the best overall experience.
What if the fastest route means driving through days of heavy rain, while a slightly longer route offers clear skies? Wouldn’t you prefer the latter?
That is why we do not only use clever algorithms but also look at that additional and maybe even important factor. We've enhanced traditional TSP optimisation by integrating an intelligent weather layer in our Holiday Travel Planner. Our tool doesn't just calculate the most efficient route, it also considers historical rainfall patterns to help you avoid unnecessary bad weather.
How our Holiday Travel Planner works:
1. Enter your destinations and stay durations.
2. Our system finds the most efficient route.
3. Weather intelligence is applied, optimising for minimal rainfall.
4. Receive a personalised road trip plan — optimised for both time and weather
Beyond travel: smarter optimisation for business
This approach is useful for more than holiday planning. By combining TSP optimisation with additional intelligent factors, businesses can create smarter logistics solutions. Whether you’re managing supply chains, delivery networks, or fleet operations, integrating factors such as data, traffic conditions, or other key constraints can maximise efficiency, minimise costs, and improve reliability.
With our customised approach, you can go beyond basic optimization and solve complex routing challenges tailored to your specific needs. The TSP, with an extra layer of intelligence, can help revolutionise your business operations, ensuring smarter, more adaptable decision-making.
