Grid‐Based Whole Trajectory Clustering in Road Networks Environment

Abstract

In the data mining of road networks, trajectory clustering of moving objects plays an important role in many applications. Most existing algorithms for this problem are based on every position point in a trajectory and face a significant challenge in dealing with complex and length-varying trajectories. This paper proposes a grid-based whole trajectory clustering model (GBWTC) in road networks, which regards the trajectory as a whole. In this model, we first propose a trajectory mapping algorithm based on grid estimation, which transforms the trajectories in road network space into grid sequences in grid space and forms grid trajectories by recognizing and eliminating redundant, abnormal, and stranded information of grid sequences. We then design an algorithm to extract initial clustering centers based on density weight and improve a shape similarity measuring algorithm to measure the distance between two grid trajectories. Finally, we dynamically allocate every grid trajectory to the best clusters by the nearest neighbor principle and an outlier function. For the evaluation of clustering performance, we establish a clustering criterion based on the classical Silhouette Coefficient to maximize intercluster separation and intracluster homogeneity. The clustering accuracy and performance superiority of the proposed algorithm are illustrated on a real-world dataset in comparison with existing algorithms.