FLO - Facility Location Optimizer

A tool for solving location problems.

Project Facility Location Optimizer (Project FLO) is a research project created at the Institute for Mathematics of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. The main purpose of the project is the development of a MATLAB-based software tool (aka FLO) for solving location problems.

The current version of FLO provides the following features:
- Solving of planar single objective location problems (median- and center problems) from the literature of location theory (e.g. the Fermat-Weber problem) with regard to different distance concepts (norms and polyhedral gauges).
- Solving planar multiobjective location problems with respect to different solution concepts of the theory of multiobjective optimization (e.g. concept of Edgeworth-Pareto efficiency).
- Solving special classes of non-convex single- and multiobjective location problems with attraction and repulsion points.
- Overview of the solutions of different location problems on the map, where the solutions can be identified through colors and a classification scheme for location problems proposed in the literature by Hamacher and Nickel.
- Detailed information about the output of all algorithms.
- Algorithm settings can easily be changed by the user along with detailed information about the algorithm directly from within FLO.
- Modern concepts of measuring distances between location points (for approximating real word distances) can be used through the definition of polyhedral gauges.
- Loading of actual map images in the background of the coordinate system.
- Location list can be exported to a spreadsheet, and a spreadsheet location list can be imported into FLO.
- Customization of the interface and the ability to save settings between sessions.
- Available in both German and English.