Knowledge-Based Systems 24 (2011) 484491

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Knowledge-Based Systems
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s ev i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / k n o s y s

An experimental ant colony approach for the geolocation of verbal route

descriptions
David Brosset
a
b

a,

, Christophe Claramunt

Gomer LETG UMR 6554 IUEM, 29280 Plouzan, France

Naval Academy Research Institute, BP 600, 29240 Brest Naval, France

article

info

Article history:
Received 4 August 2009
Received in revised form 17 December 2010
Accepted 19 December 2010
Available online 24 December 2010
Keywords:
Verbal route description
Route finding
Ant colony algorithm
Genetic algorithm
S-patial information

abstract
This paper introduces an experimental cooperative and stochastic algorithm for the derivation of spatial routes that fits the
semantics of a verbal route description in natural environments. The algorithm mimics the behavior of ants, where positive
feedbacks consist of pheromone trails, deposited on attractive paths. The novelty of the approach relies on the integration of
the semantics of a verbal route description within the heuristic of the search algorithm. A route is modeled using a graph-based
description where land-marks and spatial relationships play a central role. The algorithm is experimented and illustrated by a
prototype implementation applied to foot orienteering. Preliminary computational experiments show that the ant colony
developed and applied to route finding in natural environments performs relatively well when compared with other metaheuristics.
2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

investigated, and applied to street networks in urban contexts [15,5,25].

Modeling navigation knowledge is a process that still requires a better link

between common sense perceptions of space and formal models that integrate
this kind of knowledge [11]. This implies an evaluation of how human beings
conceptualize space and their dis-placements. Navigation knowledge is
closely related to the notion of mental map where multiple representations of
space are associated by cognitive associations [26,16]. These mental
representations are mediated by structural elements, often language-based,
categorized as image schemata built upon human experiences and practices
with the environment [17]. The qualitative components of these cognitive
perceptions are closely related to human knowledge, but difficult to
manipulate directly when searching for map-based representations. This has
generated a rich amount of work in the structural analysis of verbal
descriptions oriented to the modeling of urban and natural environments
[4,23,10]. A landmark is commonly defined in naviga-tion as a decision point,
or assimilated to a decision point, and where decisions are taken [24,13].
Actions expressed by verbs convey the dynamic component of human
navigation [6]. Several empirical studies have revealed the prominent roles
played by landmarks and actions [7,28]. Their role and salience in navigation
knowledge have been investigated [24,22], and their potential for the
derivation of computational models of navigation tasks have been formally

The research presented in this paper introduces a modeling and

computational framework whose objective is to explore a concep-tual and
logical bridge between the way humans conceptualize navigation knowledge
and quantitative representations. In a previ-ous work, we introduced a
structural and logical approach that ap-plies graph principles to the modeling
of verbal route descriptions [3]. The main assumption of this approach is that
a route descrip-tion can be modeled as a path made of locations and actions,
and semantically qualified by landmarks and qualitative spatial rela-tionships.
Based on this logical and semantic representation, this paper develops a
stochastic algorithm whose objective is to derive plausible geo-referenced
representations of a verbal route descrip-tion (Fig. 1). This algorithm belongs
to a class of solutions, so-called Ant Colony System (ACS), introduced as a
new computational par-adigm to solve combinatorial optimization problems,
and for rapid discovery of satisfactory solutions [9,8,20]. These algorithms
repro-duce the behavior of a colony of ants, i.e., agents with very basic
capabilities, that move essentially at random, and deposit rewards on the
ground, i.e., pheromone trails, when satisfied by the route they have followed.
Therefore, an ant encountering a route with a previously deposited pheromone
will decide with a higher probability to follow this route. This generates
positive feedback loops, where the probability of having ants following this
route progressively increases. These algorithms have been inspired by the
observation of termite communication [14].

Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: david@brosset.org (D. Brosset), claramunt@ecole-navale.fr (C.
Claramunt).
0950-7051/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.knosys.2010.12.006

Termites use a form

of indirect communication, so-called stigmergy,
where the

D. Brosset, C. Claramunt / Knowledge-Based Systems 24 (2011) 484491

485

Fig. 1. Geo-referencing principles.

environment acts as the exchange support. The advantage of these algorithms

when applied to route finding problems is that they facilitate convergence.
Implementations of these algorithms to spatial environments have been
applied to conventional shortest paths or the classical Traveling Salesman
Problem, and where the search space is predefined with specific constraints.
The algorithm presented in this paper differs in many aspects to current
ACS implementations. First, the constraints of the search process are derived
from a verbal description which is imprecise per nature. Secondly, the number
of candidate paths is very large, these paths being not predefined by the
structure of the environ-ment. This is due to the fact that our algorithm is
experimented in a natural environment non constrained by a street network.
The aim of the algorithm is to search for a plausible mapping of a route
description toward a geo-referenced representation. Poten-tial applications are
varied as such route finding problems cover a wide range of situations from
rescue operations to orienteering processes in natural environment. Overall,
the computational algo-rithm developed relies on a stochastic approach, but it
is able to model and create a solution to a complex and somehow vague
problem thus favouring or generating a form of computational cre-ativity as
recently suggested in [2].

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces

the principles of the structural and graph based modeling approach of a verbal
route description. Section 3 develops the algorithm initialization and
execution. A prototype implementation is presented in Section 4 together with
some preliminary computational experiments and comparison with a genetic
algorithm. Finally, a discussion and some concluding remarks are given in
Section 5.

2. Route description modeling approach

This modeling approach is experimented in the context of path finding
applied to foot orienteering course descriptions. Foot orien-teering has been
created in 1857, and was first used by the Scandi-navian army as a training
method. Orienteers have to visit a set of control points in a given order and
within the shortest possible time. The objective of each orienteer is to find the
correct control

points according to a route description given at the start of the ori-enteering

course. Control points are colored flags distributed ran-domly in the exercise
area. Route descriptions are made of sequences of sentences, where
landmarks and actions are succes-sively identified and qualified (e.g., Fig. 1).
Actions and landmarks are the core elements of this modeling approach.
Landmarks model salient points where decision are ta-ken (e.g., go to the
1

green control point), whereas other saliences in the environment not acting
as decision are hereafter considered as spatial entities. An action describes an
elementary displacement and can be schematized by a directed path between
two locations. A navigation process can be modeled as a path in the sense of
graph principles, where the nodes of the path represent locations qualified by
a landmark or a spatial entity or not, edges of the path actions between these
locations.
More formally, a route is modeled as an oriented graph G(N G, EG, lG, dG)
where NG denotes the set of nodes, E G the set of edges, lG a function that
associates a location to a node, and d G a function that associates an action to
an edge. A route description is modeled by an ordered set of connected 3tuples (pi, ai, pi+1), named route segments, where p i, pi+1 2 LG and ai 2 AG,
and where LG denotes the set of locations, AG the set of actions. An action
starts and terminates at a location, that might be close to or on a land-mark.
Similarly, an action might interact with a landmark during its execution.
At a finer level of granularity, actions in the environment can be also
qualitatively described by orientation terms. An action can be qualified by its
cardinal or relative directions (e.g., go to the north, turn to the right).
Similarly, landmarks are qualified when present in the route descriptions
according to their proximity to a decision point. We make the difference
between two cases: either, the deci-sion point is on a landmark (e.g., go to
the green control point) or in the proximity of a landmark (e.g., start near
the red control point). While qualitative terms give an additional component
to route descriptions, landmark categories complement route descriptions. For
each kind of environment and navigation, a set

For interpretation of colour in Fig. 1, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.

486

D. Brosset, C. Claramunt / Knowledge-Based Systems 24 (2011) 484491

additional spatial relationships, i.e., edges direction and length, and when
also present in route descriptions, also constrain the searching process,
flexibility of the algorithm is guaranteed by regulation of its execution at
the interface level.

Fig. 2. Graphic representation of a verbal route description.

of landmark categories are identified and derived from an ontology that

applies to the environment considered. The one used in our case study is
derived from the orienteering symbols set defined by the International
Orienteering Federation (IOF).
The route description modeling approach has been experi-mented with a
prototype and an interface that provides a sche-matic representation of a route
description (Fig. 1). This interface models a route description, and supplies a
Boolean-based and schematic view of a directed path between two locations.
Verbal route descriptions are mapped to equivalent schematic representa-tions
at the interface level.

The search problem is qualitative per nature, the objective is not to find a
minimal length (closed) route that passes through each node once, but rather
to find the ones that fulfill as much as possi-ble the route description given,
and particularly its semantics. This also implies to develop an algorithm that
provides a relative diver-sity of solutions in order to avoid emergence of local
solutions. The algorithm is made of two parts: an initialization and an
execution. The initialization generates the search space, that is, the candidate
points for the route finding process. The algorithm execution trig-gers the ant
colony search process where a balance between explo-ration and confirmation
of candidate solutions is maintained. After a number of iterations the
algorithm should discover several route solutions.

Fig. 1 shows a verbal route description taken from an orienteer-ing course

exercise:
Go to the North to a Red control point. Go to the West for five hundred
meters, then go to the South to arrive near a Green control point. Finally,
go to the East to a Red control point.
This description is modeled according to the approach intro-duced. It
contains four route segments and three landmarks, each action being qualified
by an orientation term, and one of them by a distance.
Fig. 2 illustrates the modeling approach where the graph description of the
verbal route description previously introduced is mapped towards a schematic
representation. The nodes and edges of the graph are described by appropriate
symbols whereas cardinal, direction and other semantic information constitute
labels that enrich the graphic presented. Overall the schematic representation
complements the graph model by providing a user-oriented interface that
presents the main semantic compo-nents of a route description.

3.1. Algorithm initialization principles

The algorithm is initialized by a stochastic generation of M paths of length
n, and where n + 1 denotes the number of nodes of the route description (M is
parameterized at the interface le-vel, and preferably very large). These paths
are generated taking into account a minimal and maximal length derived from
the environment characteristics, and valued at the interface level. We assume
that the route description is semantically rich, that is, most of the nodes are
qualified by landmarks. We consider route descriptions of reasonable length,
that is, less than ten nodes, this corresponding to most common cases found in
pe-destrian route descriptions. The landmarks are those identified on a
reference map according to a semantic classification. This ensures that the
node selection process and the generation of layers do not overshadow
candidate solutions. A layer represents a set of candidate nodes that represent
possible solutions for a

3. Algorithm model principles

given node
1 6 i 6 M,

The algorithm presented is based on the principles of ant colony

algorithms, but introduces additional spatial semantics derived from a
qualitative and structural representation of a verbal route description. The
main differences with conventional ant algorithms are as follows:

vjij 2 N;

the network that constitutes the search space is not explicitly defined, but
the result of systematic exploration of the search space, as we preferably
consider a natural terrain non con-strained by a predefined network
structure (without loss of generality we consider a natural terrain being not
constrained by physical obstacles),
proximity to landmarks, when present in route descriptions, constrains the
searching process,

Fig. 3. Candidate

of
an

the route
evaluation

description.
process is

For each path ii 2 N;

applied to each
vertex

1 6 j 6 n 1 as follows:

for a given vertex vij of the path i and when the jth node of the route given
is labeled by a landmark, the algorithm searches for
similar landmarks in the neighborhood defined by a distance a around the
vertex vij. The distance a is parameterized at the interface level, it should
reflect the topography characteristics and the average visibility (the
distance a is valued at the inter-face level during the execution of the
algorithm). When no land-mark labels the node in the description, the
vertex vij is added to the set of candidate nodes Nj.
when several landmarks are found, one of them is selected ran-domly,
when one landmark is found, it is selected. Two cases are then considered
(Fig. 3):

node
selection: principle.

D. Brosset, C. Claramunt / Knowledge-Based Systems 24 (2011) 484491

487

Fig. 4. Layers derivation example (Case 2).

Case 1: The node j is a landmark explicitly given by the route description

i
(e.g., go to a Red control point). The vertex v j is relocated to the
location of the landmark and retained.

Case 2: The node j is in the neighborhood of a landmark given by the route

description (e.g., arrive near of a Green control point). The
vertex vij is retained.
the vertex retained by the application of either Case 1 or Case 2
is added to the set of candidate nodes Nj,
when no landmarks are found for this vertex, the algo-rithm
passes to the next vertex vij if any, otherwise passes to the next
path i + 1 if any, otherwise terminates.

The algorithm generates a number n + 1 of layers where each layer L jj 2

N; 1 6 j 6 n 1 is associated to a set Nj of Kj candidate nodes that represent
possible solutions for the jth node of the route description. Fig. 4 shows the
principles of a node selection for one of the layers, and according to case 2
described above. A landmark is first selected as a candidate for the third node
of the route description (I), a node in the neighborhood is then selected as
can-didate (II), and finally integrated in the third layer L3(III).

3.2. Algorithm execution principles

The algorithm execution applies an ant-based colony optimiza-tion
process to solve the route finding problem. The main steps of the algorithm
execution are as follows:
1. at each iteration of the algorithm, each ant of the colony popu-lation
generates a path amongst the set of candidate nodes,
2. these paths are initialized using a probabilistic process that maintains a
balance between exploration of novel solutions and confirmation of good
solutions, and using the candidate nodes selected by the algorithm
initialization,
3. at each iteration of the algorithm, pheromone trails on the can-didate edges
are rewarded according to the evaluation of the routes followed by the
ants.
At the first iteration of the algorithm, the candidate edges of every layer L j
are incremented with a pheromone null value. Each ant builds a path of length
n. At each decision point, i.e., each node jj 2 N; 1 6 j 6 n 1, each ant
selects stochastically the next

node amongst the set Nj+1. Then the probability Probj,j+1(t) of choos-ing the
node j + 1 amongst the set Nj+1 from j at the time t is given by

Prob
j;j1

sj;j1

k1

j1

sj;kt

where sj,j+1(t) gives the pheromone value of the edge (j, j + 1) at t. This
approach maintains a balance between the necessity of
favoring good solutions to a certain degree, while allowing the exploration of
novel paths. At each iteration of the algorithm, two valuations are performed.
First, a pheromone evaporation en-sures that routes not followed by the ants
are progressively forgot-ten. Secondly, the amount of pheromone deposited on
each edge (j, j + 1) is derived. The pheromone value for an edge (j, j + 1) is
gi-ven by

sj;j1t 1 sj;j1t1 q dj;j1t 1;

where the evaporation rate q is valued in the unit interval [0, 1]. The value
given to q should ensure a balance between the
necessity of exploring new solutions (i.e., values that tend to 1), and the
confirmation of good solutions (i.e., values that tend to 0). The reward on
each edge (j, j + 1) is given by the valuation of the pheromone d j,j+1 at each
step of the algorithm, while constrain-ing these values in order to give a
chance to each edge to be se-lected. The quantity of pheromone dj,j+1 laid on
the edge (j, j + 1) at t + 1 is given by

j;j1

X dq
t

q1

j ;j1

where Q denotes the number of ants, and d qj;j1 the quantity of pher-omone
laid on the edge (nj, nj+1) at t + 1 by the ant q.
Next the pheromone deposited on each edge (j, j + 1) should be evaluated.
This evaluation is local to a given edge, but should re-flect the positive
rewards of the ants that pass through this edge to complete their route. For
each edge on a given route we make the difference between three cases, from
the best to the worst ones:

Case A: The starting node j and the ending node j + 1 fit the semantics of the
route description, i.e., each node is associated to a landmark of
similar class.

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D. Brosset, C. Claramunt / Knowledge-Based Systems 24 (2011) 484491

Case B: Either the starting node j or the ending node j + 1 fit the semantics
of the route description, i.e., one node only is associated to a
landmark of similar class.
Case C: None of the nodes j and j + 1 fit the semantics of the route
description.
In order to give representative scores to these cases, they are qualified by
a coefficient bj,j+1 whose value is given by the unit interval [0, 1], and that
tends to 1 for case A, 0.5 for case B and null for case C.
Compliances to the direction relationship (lj,j+1) and the length (kj,j+1) of
each edge (j, j + 1) are also evaluated. These mappings are scored according
to their degree of match given by a Gaussian membership function. This
allows to not eliminate paths close en-ough to the directions or distances
given. The compliance lj,j+1 is given by values that range from 0 (the edge (j, j
+ 1) does not fit the direction given) to 1 (the edge (j, j + 1) fits the direction
given, or no direction information is given). Similarly, the length of each edge
is evaluated by a coefficient k j,j+1 2 [0, 1] that ranges from 1 when the length
of the edge fits the length given by the route description or no distance
information is given, to the null value when the difference of the length of the
edge with the length of the route description is larger than a threshold value.

Overall, the amount of pheromone deposited on an edge (j, j + 1) at t + 1

by an ant q is given by
n

q
j;j1

t 1

j;j

Xj1 n

j;j1

kj;j1 :

The algorithm is terminated when the best solutions do not change, or the
number of ants following this route does not evolve significantly, or the
number of iterations given as a limit is reached.
4. Algorithm computation and comparison
The algorithm has been implemented and validated by a proto-type
written using Java and the Geotools library. The algorithm implementation is
illustrated on top of the example of route description introduced in Section 2.
We consider a large-scale envi-ronment of approximately one square
kilometer size, mostly

wooded with a few barriers and a relatively large diversity of land-marks.

This environment is initialized with around ten to twenty landmarks
categorized into three different classes.
Fig. 5 shows the prototype interface. The verbal route descrip-tion and its
graphic representation are presented at the top-left of the interface. The
geographical environment that constitutes the search space appears at the right
part of the interface. Last, the control parameters constitute the interaction
part of the inter-face to the left. The landmarks identified are categorized
according to the classes they belong to.
The algorithm is first initialized. After a stochastic generation of a relative
high number of paths, and generation of n + 1 layers where each layer L j
contains the Nj candidate nodes of the jth node of the path of length n. The
algorithm is ready to process its execu-tion, when all the parameters required
have been valued by the user in control at the interface level. The valuation of
these param-eters should maintain a balance between the necessity of
ensuring convergence and the need for a search space large enough to avoid
local solutions. The algorithm parameters are calibrated at the
experimentation level in order to ensure a balance between the necessity of
implementing a performing algorithm, and the need for a sufficient level of
exploration. They are as follows:

the spatial parameters employed during the algorithm initiali-zation: the

distance a used for the neighborhood analysis to relocate the vertices when
required,
the pheromone evaporation rate q,
the number of ants Q, although its influence should be marginal as far as
its value is large enough,
the maximum number of iterations.
The algorithm applied to the example of route description pre-viously
introduced in Fig. 2 has produced the following results. The algorithm
initialization has created several layers of landmarks with around four
hundred to five hundred points per layer. We ini-tialized the algorithm
execution with one hundred ants. The exper-iments have been conducted with
a neighborhood distance a = 100 m which is acceptable considering the
topography of the terrain considered, and a pheromone evaporation value ( q = 0.2).
The experiments reveal that the algorithm converges after a few

Fig. 5. Algorithm

solutions example.

D. Brosset, C. Claramunt / Knowledge-Based Systems 24 (2011) 484491

489

lengths and of similar semantics. A notable result shows that when the length
of the route description increases, the initial number of solutions increases
while the final number of candidate solutions decreases toward a low number
of solutions (see Fig. 6).
The performances of this ACS inspired algorithm have been
comparatively studied with respect to another meta-heuristic, a genetic-based
algorithm. Genetic algorithms have been widely introduced and applied to the
resolution of complex search prob-lems, and where their basic principles
mimic natural selection pro-cesses of species evolution [12]. One of the
advantage of genetic algorithms is that they also avoid local solutions, while
being in-spired by biological processes as ACS-based algorithms [21,18,27].
A genetic-based algorithm has been implemented with the functions
usually applied: selection, crossover and mutation. For instance, the crossing
function randomly selects a sample of half of possible routes and cross these
solutions in order to generate no-vel route solutions. Best route solutions are
then taken into ac-count, either parents or children solution. The way route
solutions are combined is also performed randomly(see Fig. 7).
Fig. 6. Maximum score values per length l of the route description.

iterations. This shows that, while based on minimal knowledge and local
behavior, the ant colony algorithm evolves toward solutions that comply with
the route description given. Four best solutions have been identified with
respect to the semantics of the route description provided (Fig. 5). It is worth
noting that, although these solutions fit to the route given as input, they are
relatively differ-ent. The main difference relies in the length of the four paths
gen-erated, whose value if described, can also help to differentiate these
solutions. This is a result of the fact that distances are often not provided in
route descriptions, this introducing ambiguity in the evaluation of distances
and a relative degree of liberty with re-spect to that criteria and the solutions
that emerge. Overall, pro-viding several solutions favors the emergence of a
sufficient number of solutions and alternatives, without being limited to lo-cal
solutions.

Several experiments have been conducted in order to evaluate the different

role played by the algorithm parameters during com-putation and its
complexity. Several initial constraints should be taken into account. The
number of ants should be relatively high at the initialization level, it can be
reduced at the execution level. The level of pheromone evaporation should be
balanced in order to allow both exploration and confirmation. Several route
finding problems have been tested and executed on top of the environ-ment
chosen as the case study, but considering routes of different

The computational comparison of the ant-based and genetic algorithms are

performed on top of the experimental environment previously presented.
Every experiment is made of one hundred random route finding tests that has
been summarized. Two param-eters have been evaluated: performance with
respect to the num-ber of nodes of a given route finding process, and the size
of the environment. For each algorithm, computational parameters have been
optimized in order to produce the best results (i.e., 100 ants and 1500
individuals, respectively for the ant-based and genetic algorithms).

Several observations can be made from the emerging computa-tional

results. First, there is an evidence of satisfactory computa-tional convergence
for each algorithm. Next, it appears clearly that under the conditions of the
experiment made, the ant-based algorithm has a better convergence than the
genetic-based algo-rithm, this being even more noteworthy when the
complexity of the search space increases with the number of nodes (cf. Fig.
8). This confirms the observed fact that the ant-based algorithm is particularly
adapted when the complexity of the search space does increase. This is also
the result of the local knowledge applied by the ants during the execution of
the algorithm, and thus refine-ment, while the genetic algorithm does not
encompass any form of experience during execution.

The formal computational evaluation of the ACS-based and genetic-based

algorithm is a non straightforward task as these algorithms are generally
terminated long before their formal

Fig. 7. Genetic-based algorithm: example of a route of length = 5.

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D. Brosset, C. Claramunt / Knowledge-Based Systems 24 (2011) 484491

Fig. 8. Computational performance: number of nodes route length.

convergence. Nonetheless, the computations experimented clearly show that

the complexity is mainly determined by the qualitative properties of the route
description and not directly by the length of the description whose influence
is variable, and by the number of points in the search space (cf. Figs. 6 and 8).
The computational experiments also show that the ACS-based algorithm has a
faster convergence than the genetic-based algorithm. Overall, the ACS-based
algorithm can be considering as performing better than the genetic-based
algorithm under the conditions of the experi-ment. These promising results
encourage further applications of the ACS-based algorithms to larger search
space and longer route descriptions from a quantitative point of view.
Qualitative exten-sions will be also studied by considering additional spatial
constraints.

The ACS-based algorithm design appears particularly adapted to route

descriptions qualified by landmarks and directions, this favouring the search
process. Also, the number of candidate solu-tions should be large enough to
justify a stochastic approach while being reasonable regarding its length. The
main advantage of the algorithm is that although it combines a stochastic
approach with a local knowledge of the environment exhibited by the ant
during the algorithm execution, this being the result of the semantic de-rived
from the route problem. It guarantees the emergence of acceptable solutions
to a relatively complex way-finding problem in satisfactory computational
time. The fact that the algorithm con-verges toward several potential solutions
does not ensure a satis-factory solution to the route finding problem. Rather it
provides an input for a human-based expertise whose objective will be to
study and identify possible solutions with respect to the verbal route
description given as an input. These route should be consid-ered as possible
solutions, including sequences of nodes and edges in order to favor crosscomparison of verbal descriptions derived from natural environments, and
study of the emerging structural and linguistic properties. This provides a
cognitive dimension

and perspective to the application of this algorithm that will be the object of
further extension of our research.

5. Conclusions
The integration of biologically inspired algorithms into compu-tational
processes offers stimulating perspectives for solving com-plex problems
[19,1]. Way-finding typically belongs to this class of problems as developing
a bridge between cognitive models and spatial representation is still an open
avenue of research.
The research introduced in this paper applies an experimental ant colony
algorithm whose objective is to derive a plausible solu-tion to a way-finding
problem. The algorithm considers as an input a graph and logical based
representation of a verbal route descrip-tion, where landmarks and actions are
the main constructs identi-fied. The exploratory algorithm stochastically
explores the geographical space support of the route finding task, and selects
potential decision points to constitute a search space. The ant col-ony model is
applied on top of this search space, according to the spatial semantics of the
verbal route description, rewarding good solutions, and progressively
converges toward what should appear as the most satisfactory solution.
Preliminary comparison with an-other meta-heuristic, namely a genetic-based
algorithm, confirms the satisfactory performances of our algorithm, and this
particu-larly when the complexity of the search process and the environ-ment
considered increase.

The algorithm design and its implementation

are at their initial stage. The algorithm is flexible
enough to integrate additional spatial semantics
and constraints with some minor adaptations.
Barriers in the environment can be integrated as
restricting vari-ables at the initialization stage of

the algorithm and the generation of paths.

Elevation can also constitute an additional
topographic variable for pheromone valuations.
We also plan to conduct further

D. Brosset, C. Claramunt / Knowledge-Based Systems 24 (2011) 484491

experiments in order to compare computational solutions with paths followed

by orienteers.
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