Map-based Educational Tools for Algorithm Learning (METAL)

led by Dr. James D. Teresco

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METAL Example Videos

Please note that videos here were built with the version of HDX as of the end of the Summer 2017 project. Subsequent projects implemented extensive enhancements that are not in the version used for these videos, so you are encouraged to experiment with HDX interactively! The videos now serve more as a reminder to us of how far we've come...

We have created these videos to demonstrate some of the algorithm visualization (AV) capabilities of the Map-based Educational Tools for Algorithm Learning (METAL) project. Of course, we recommend running AVs interatively using the Highway Data Examiner (HDX), but we hope these videos give a sense of a typical user experience.

Each video is saved as an MP4 video in 720p resolution to help reduce file sizes, but are still quite large (hundreds of megabytes to over a gigabyte). We recommend downloading the videos and viewing them in a full screen mode if possible.

HDX AV User Interface

This video demonstrates the basics of the HDX AV user interface, including loading of graph data and selecting algorithm parameters.

Sequential Search

METAL includes sequential search AVs that operate on either the vertex data or the edge data.

Vertex Search

This video demonstrates our sequential vertex search on a fairly large graph, the one of the highways in the state of Nevada.

Edge Search

This video demonstrates our sequential edge search on a medium-size graph, the one of the highways in the state of Rhode Island.

Graph Traversals and Connected Components

Breadth-First vs. Depth-First

This video demonstrates our breadth-first and depth-first graph traversals, first on a small graph (the Isle of Man), then on a much larger graph (Vermont).

Connected Components

This video demonstrates the algorithm to find all connected components of a graph using the traversals, in this case on a large graph of highways on many islands in the West Indies.

Dijkstra's Algorithm

We have two examples for Dijkstra's algorithm to compute single-source shortest paths. The first video demonstrates the algorithm on a smaller graph, the highways of the state of Delaware. The second video demonstrates the algorithm on a larger graph, the highways of the state of Idaho.

Brute-Force Convex Hull

This video demonstrates the brute-force convex hull algorithm, on the waypoints from the graph of the small nation of Andorra.