dodgr_flows_optalloc: Optimal allocation of flows from sources to capacity-limited...

In dodgr: Distances on Directed Graphs

Optimal allocation of flows from sources to capacity-limited targets

Description

Solve the transportation problem of allocating flows from N source ('from') points with associated densities to M target ('to') points with finite capacities, such that total flow from each source is fully allocated, no target receives more than its capacity, and total allocation cost (source-to-target network distance) is minimized. The resultant optimal allocation is then aggregated on to the network with dodgr_flows_aggregate, so this function returns a graph with an additional flow column, just like dodgr_flows_aggregate, dodgr_flows_disperse, and dodgr_flows_si.

Usage

dodgr_flows_optalloc(
  graph,
  from,
  to,
  source_densities,
  target_capacities,
  control = list(algorithm = "sinkhorn"),
  contract = TRUE,
  heap = "BHeap",
  norm_sums = TRUE,
  quiet = TRUE
)

Arguments

graph	data.frame or equivalent object representing the network graph (see Details)
from	Vector or matrix of points from which route distances are to be calculated, specified as one of the following: Single character vector precisely matching node numbers or names given in graph$from or graph$to. Single vector of integer-ish values, in which case these will be presumed to specify indices into dodgr_vertices, and NOT to correspond to values in the 'from' or 'to' columns of the graph. See the example below for a demonstration. Matrix or equivalent of longitude and latitude coordinates, in which case these will be matched on to the nearest coordinates of 'from' and 'to' points in the graph.
to	Vector or matrix of points to which route distances are to be calculated. If to is NULL, pairwise distances will be calculated from all from points to all other nodes in graph. If both from and to are NULL, pairwise distances are calculated between all nodes in graph.
source_densities	Numeric vector of densities at each from point, with length(source_densities) == length(from).
target_capacities	Numeric vector of capacities at each to point, with length(target_capacities) == length(to).
control	A named list controlling the allocation algorithm. Must include an algorithm entry, either "sinkhorn" (default) or "lp": "sinkhorn" solves an entropic-regularized approximation to the optimal allocation via iterative matrix scaling. This is generally much faster for large numbers of source/target points, at the cost of only approximating the true optimum. Recognizes the following additional control entries, all optional: lambda Entropic regularization strength (default 1). Smaller values approach the exact optimum more closely, at the cost of slower and less numerically stable convergence. tol Convergence tolerance on row/column marginal errors (default 1e-8). maxiter Maximum number of scaling iterations (default 1000). "lp" solves the exact transportation linear program via lpSolve, which must be installed (it is only a "Suggested", not "Imported" dependency). No additional control entries are used.
contract	If TRUE (default), calculate flows on contracted graph before mapping them back on to the original full graph (recommended as this will generally be much faster). FALSE should only be used if the graph has already been contracted.
heap	Type of heap to use in priority queue. Options include Fibonacci Heap (default; FHeap), Binary Heap (BHeap), Trinomial Heap (TriHeap), Extended Trinomial Heap (TriHeapExt, and 2-3 Heap (Heap23).
norm_sums	Standardise sums from all origin points, so sum of flows throughout entire network equals sum of densities from all origins (see Note).
quiet	If FALSE, display progress messages on screen.

Details

This function performs an initial call to dodgr_dists to obtain the ⁠N x M⁠ matrix of shortest-path distances between all from and to points. The optimal allocation is then obtained by numerical optimization over that matrix alone (see control, below), with no further path-finding required, before finally calling dodgr_flows_aggregate with the resultant allocation matrix as its flows argument.

Because targets may collectively have more capacity than sources have density, sum(source_densities) <= sum(target_capacities) must hold. This is checked before any allocation is attempted.

Value

The input graph, with an additional flow column added, similar to behaviour of dodgr_flows_aggregate.

Note

The "sinkhorn" algorithm is generally the faster choice, especially for large numbers of source/target points, but only approximates the true optimal allocation, with accuracy controlled by control$lambda. Use control = list(algorithm = "lp") for the exact optimum, at the cost of both requiring the lpSolve package and scaling less well to large numbers of points.

See Also

Other flows: dodgr_flows_aggregate(), dodgr_flows_disperse(), dodgr_flows_si()

Examples

graph <- weight_streetnet (hampi)
graphc <- dodgr_contract_graph (graph)
set.seed (1)
from <- sample (graphc$from_id, size = 10)
to <- sample (graphc$to_id, size = 5)
to <- to [!to %in% from]
source_densities <- runif (length (from))
target_capacities <- runif (length (to))
# scale target_capacities to ensure sum(source_densities) <=
# sum(target_capacities):
target_capacities <- target_capacities *
    1.5 * sum (source_densities) / sum (target_capacities)
graph <- dodgr_flows_optalloc (
    graph,
    from = from,
    to = to,
    source_densities = source_densities,
    target_capacities = target_capacities
)
# graph then has an additional 'flow' column, exactly as for
# 'dodgr_flows_aggregate'


# The exact optimum can be obtained instead with the 'lpSolve' package:
graph <- dodgr_flows_optalloc (
    graph,
    from = from,
    to = to,
    source_densities = source_densities,
    target_capacities = target_capacities,
    control = list (algorithm = "lp")
)

dodgr documentation built on Sept. 3, 2026, 5:08 p.m.