New package: AStarGridSearch v0.1.0

[JuliaRegistrator]

• Registering package: AStarGridSearch
• Repository: https://github.com/ngharrison/AStarGridSearch.jl
• Created by: @ngharrison
• Version: v0.1.0
• Commit: 26f13d666690461a1ca370f4420a256d89a4b3e3
• Reviewed by: @ngharrison
• Reference: ngharrison/AStarGridSearch.jl@26f13d6#commitcomment-149675311
• Description: A package for finding paths on a 2D grid through A* search.
• Release notes:

Initial release of AStarGridSearch. Path searching and distance calculation on a 2D grid.

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[gdalle]

[noblock]
Hi, congrats on the new package! I just wanted to check whether you are aware of GridGraphs, which may implement most of what you need? We're currently revamping it though so we can definitely add / remove stuff.

[ngharrison]

@gdalle I'm breaking this package out from a bigger project I've been working on. When I first started it over a year and a half ago, I tried out the A* alg in Graphs, but it was too slow for me. I can't remember now if I saw GridGraphs or not, but I turned to making my own implementation anyway due to requirements for simplicity and efficiency. In particular, I needed something that could calculate path distances on a discretized 2D map and serve as part of a cost function in an optimization routine. The cost function is called hundreds or thousands of times for the same starting location and different goal locations, so I use A* and save a cost matrix that can be shared between runs. I can't say what the performance comparison would be with your package now/future.

I've worked to register this as its own package to both improve the experience for collaborators working on my other packages that use it as a dependency as well as to let other people use it on its own if they have a similar need. Since this package has only one main feature, I have imagined it being absorbed into a bigger package system. However, I've envisioned more generally path planning in 2D/3D space rather than purely graph-based applications. For context, my applications deal with robotics.

[noblock]

[gdalle]

[noblock]
Fair enough. If you can provide an MWE showing how your code is faster than the Graphs.jl equivalent, I'll be interested to see why

[ngharrison]

Thanks. When I get some time, I hope to add some info about the relation to other packages. I can make a comparison then.