Plotting optimal road trips has proved a popular mapping trend this year. In its most basic form the 'optimal road trip' provides the shortest route around a country, while also visiting each and every region at least once.
However there can be variations to this rule, in which the optimal route visits some other arbitrary locations. For example, earlier this year Randal Olson created a map of the Optimal Road Trip Across the United States. His map provides the shortest route across the United States which visits the top 50 major U.S. landmarks.
Randal Olson has also created the Optimal Road Trip Across Europe. This route provides the shortest route across Europe, visiting all the locations in Business Insider's '50 Places In Europe You Need To Visit In Your Lifetime'.
Apoorv Anand has now created a map providing an Optimal Road Trip Around India. Apoorv's map shows the shortest route around India which visits all 55 of the Indian locations in National Geographic's Short Breaks in India.
Of course an 'optimal road trip' is just an arbitrary traveling salesman problem. You can read either Randal Olson's or Apoorv Anand's blogs to discover how they set about solving the traveling salesman problem when creating their maps.
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