PathSOM: a novel visual-spatial search strategy
Dingguo Chen, Ishwar K. Sethi · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2005
In this paper, we propose an efficient similarity search system PathSOM that combines Self-Organizing Map (SOM) and Pathfinder Networks (PFNET). In the front end of the system, SOM is applied to cluster the original data vectors and construct a visual map of the data. The Pathfinder network then organizes the SOM map units in the form of a graph to yield a framework for an improved search to find the best matching map unit. The ability of PathSOM approach for efficient searches is demonstrated through well-known data sets.