					MSF SUBDIRECTORY



This is a full-scale operational implementation of the TREE program in the 

VALID subdirectory, where TREE is a minimum-spanning-forest heuristic.  



The code is tested against the stops in the Continental United States (CONUS) 

as shown in the "Location-routing" Chapter of Chan (2005) entitled LOCATION, 

TRANSPORT & LAND-USE. In a sentence, the CONUS program within the MSF 

subdirectory computes a minimum-spanning-forest made up of trees.  See the 

"Measuring Spatial Separation" Chapter of Chan (2005) for an explanation of 

the minimum-spanning-tree algorithm.  If you have not done so already, refer 

to "TREE" in the README file under the VALID subdirectory for more 

information on the minimum-spanning-tree program itself and execution 

details.



Note: 

Depending on the computer, a test case of the CONUS program can take days to 

complete! Our experience indicates that more powerful machines will 

accelerate the algorithm significantly.

