A more efficient heuristic for solving largep-median problems

The Teitz and Bart (1968) vertex substitution heuristic is more robust than competing algorithms and yields solutions with properties that are necessary, but not sufficient, for a global optimum solution. All documented implementations of this algorithm, however, use a naive spatial search procedure, whereas a more informed spatial search procedure, requiring considerably less computation to solve any given problem, is possible. An algorithm incorporating this new search procedure, called the global/regional interchange algorithm, is described. As problem size increases, proportionally larger reductions in processing costs occur.