The VRP Applet is meant to illustrate some methods for solving the vehicle routing problem (VRP). The methods are coded in Java, a quasi-multi-platform language. It is based on Professor O. Goldschmidt's GRaph ALgorithms (GRAAL) software package.
VRP is a distribution problem in which trucks are based at a warehouse (depot) and are required to visit a set of customers. Each customer has a demand and a geographic location. The objective is to minimize the total distance traveled by all trucks. The sum of demands of customers served by a truck cannot exceed the truck capacity. The demand of a customer cannot be split among two or more trucks.
Each customer has a unique location in a 10,000x10,000 grid. When starting
the applet, the grid is mapped onto the applet window. Try to move the
mouse in the window and see the corresponding position in the grid displayed
in the lower right corner of the applet.