The Simulated Annealing Method for the Traveling Salesman Model demonstrates the use of the "simulated annealing algorithm" to attempt to solve the "travelling salesman" problem. A text file containing longitude and latitude data for 120 cities in the US and southern Canada is loaded when this program begins.  Other data can be loaded instead, but the data file should have the same format as this text file (available under "source").  A "temperature" controls how much the results (in this case, the total distance traveled) are allowed to fluctuate.  In the process of annealing, the temperature is slowly lowered in an attempt to minimize the total distance traveled, and it can also be manually adjusted with a slider.

The Simulated Annealing Method for the Traveling Salesman Model was developed using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool.  It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive.   Double clicking the ejs_fmu_SimulatedAnnealing_TravelingSalesman.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.  You can modify this simulation if you have EJS installed by right-clicking within the map and selecting "Open Ejs Model" from the pop-up menu item.

Please note that this resource requires at least version 1.5 of Java.