Article ID: | iaor20131303 |
Volume: | 48 |
Start Page Number: | 53 |
End Page Number: | 66 |
Publication Date: | Feb 2013 |
Journal: | Transportation Research Part B |
Authors: | Bierlaire Michel, Fltterd Gunnar |
Keywords: | networks: path, statistics: distributions |
We consider the previously unsolved problem of sampling paths according to a given distribution from a general network. The problem is difficult because of the combinatorial number of alternatives, which prohibits a complete enumeration of all paths and hence also forbids to compute the normalizing constant of the sampling distribution. The problem is important because the ability to sample from a known distribution introduces mathematical rigor into many applications, including the estimation of choice models with sampling of alternatives that can be formalized as paths in a decision network (most obviously route choice), probabilistic map matching, dynamic traffic assignment, and route guidance.