android - Find best matching routes from GPS data -

i'm making application users can save gps data phone server when travel everyday routes. example heading home work. gps data stored in database.

now, user wants know maybe there's more people travels route too. want compare different users routes , give user example 3-5 best matches other users routes.

important compare whole trip, because users can join routes , go work starting @ point not beginning , end. think important destination point users view, searching other users routes. other user route must near searchers route end.

there 2 factors - time , location. 1 user drives car , walks , takes bus example. 1 walks starts trip earlier, later, because travels route faster. in 1 point @ time routes matching.

how can routes compared? there algorithm(s) that? need compare every point in route?

essentially talking combination of routing algorithms , traveling-sales-man

the common routing algorithm invented dijkstra 50 years ago, , calculate best way of getting point point b in directed network -- in routing applications means each road represented edge in network, , each edge associated "cost" i.e. time take travel down road, or average speed, or in case number of people traveling on route.

the traveling sales man different related, trying optimize number of nodes visited -- in case solving opposite trying maximize number of cities (edge-intersection nodes) while minimizing cost of traveling nodes -- worth understanding if want solve problem