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INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Welcome to mathematics. Mathematics is a beautiful branch of science. It is full

of unsolved and tricky problems and concepts that can be applied critically.

Mathematicians claimed that drawing of conclusions necessary in making decisions. In

present, the world became much better with the help of mathematics through the

exploration of its application in our environment.

You won't need special equipment, millions of dollars or lots of people. You

just need your mind. Mathematics is pure. It does not rust or decay. It only needs your

thought to make it work. Mathematics goes beyond the real world. Yet the real world

seems to be ruled by it. Mathematics often looks like a collection of symbols. But

Mathematics is not the symbols on the page but what those symbols mean. And it

doesn't matter what country you are from, or what language you speak, if you are trained

in Mathematics you will also understand what those symbols mean. So it is the

Universal Language. It rises above words. In fact it is quite possible that Mathematics

will be the common link between ourselves and any aliens we may one day meet.

Mathematics has wide applications in Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and

most of the other sciences. The major discoveries and inventions have Mathematics at

their heart. And it is widely used in both Information Technology and Communication.

These owe their very existence to Mathematics. Accountants, Economists and Business

people use it every day. The weather is predicted using powerful Mathematical

Modeling. And your favorite computer game has inside it lots of mathematical

equations that work out how everything moves and behaves.

And Mathematics is an adventure, there are always new things to discover and

learn. And it will never cease to amaze you how neatly and beautifully it all fits together.
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It is not always easy, but what good adventure has no challenges? Most of the fun is in

learning new things, mastering new methods and solving new puzzles.

In mathematics, graph theory is the study of graphs, which are mathematical

structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is

made up of vertices, nodes, or points which are connected by edges, arcs, or lines. A

graph may be undirected, meaning that there is no distinction between the two vertices

associated with each edge, or its edges may be directed from one vertex to another.

In graph theory, the shortest path problem is the problem of finding

a path between two vertices (or nodes) in a graph such that the sum of the weights of

its constituent edges is minimized. The problem of finding the shortest path between

two intersections on a road map may be modeled as a special case of the shortest path

problem in graphs, where the vertices correspond to intersections and the edges

correspond to road segments, each weighted by the length of the segment.

Figure 1

Shortest path (A, C, E, D, F) between vertices A and F in the weighted directed graph

A directed graph is graph, i.e., a set of objects (called vertices or nodes) that are

connected together, where all the edges are directed from one vertex to another. A

directed graph is sometimes called a digraph or a directed network. In contrast, a graph

where the edges are bidirectional is called an undirected graph.

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When drawing a directed graph, the edges are typically drawn as arrows

indicating the direction, as illustrated in the following figure:

Figure 2

A directed graph with 10 vertices (or nodes) and 13 edges.

One algorithm for finding the shortest path from a starting node to a target node

in a weighted graph is Dijkstra’s algorithm. The algorithm creates a tree of shortest

paths from the starting vertex, the source, to all other points in the graph.

Dijkstra’s algorithm, published in 1959 and named after its creator Dutch

computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra, can be applied on a weighted graph. The graph can

either be directed or undirected. One stipulation to using the algorithm is that the graph

needs to have a nonnegative weight on every edge.

Ilocos Sur (Ilokano: Makin-abagatan nga Ilocos) is a province in

the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Vigan City, located on the mouth

of the Mestizo River is the provincial capital. Ilocos Sur is bordered by Ilocos

Norte and Abra to the north, Mountain Province to the east, La Union and Benguet to

the south and the South China Sea to the west. Ilocos Sur was founded by the

Spanish conquistador, Juan de Salcedo in 1572. It was formed when the north
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(now Ilocos Norte) split from the south (Ilocos Sur). At that time it included parts of

Abra and the upper half of present-day La Unión. The current boundary of the province

was permanently defined through Act 2683, which was signed in March 1917. When

passing through Ilocos Sur, you will have to pass the following cities and

municipalities: Tagudin, Sta. Lucia, Sta. Cruz, Candon, Santiago, San Esteban, Sta.

Maria, Narvacan, Santa, Bantay, San Ildefonso, Sto. Domingo, Magsingal, San Juan,

Cabugao, and Sinait.

Figure 3

Map of Ilocos Sur

The province of Ilocos Sur is located along the western coast of Northern Luzon. It

is bounded by Ilocos Norte in the north, Abra in the northeast, Mt. Province in the east,

Benguet in the southeast, La Union in the south and the Luzon Sea and Lingayen Gulf
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in the west. The province falls within latitudes 16° 40’ to 17° 54’ north and

longitudes 120° 20’ to 120° 56’ east. Vigan City, the provincial capital is

approximately 408 kilometers by road from Manila, 139 kilometers north of San

Fernando City, and 80 kilometers south of Laoag City.

Ilocos Sur has an area of 2,579.60 square kilometers occupying about 20.10

percent of the total land area of the Ilocos Region. Among the municipalities, Quirino

Quirino and Cervantes have the largest area covering about 18.30 percent of the total

provincial area, while Sta. Catalina and San Vicente occupy the smallest area of

only 28.60 sq. km. or 1.10 percent of the total provincial area.

Figure 4

Map of Municipality of Tagudin

Tagudin, officially the Municipality of Tagudin, is a 2nd class municipality in

the Province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The name of the municipality was derived from

a native cotton drying rack called "tagudan." A Spaniard who came to the place asking
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its name wrote it as its name when told by a resident, who thought that he was asking

the name of the traditional apparatus she's using.

Figure 5

Map of Municipality of Sta. Cruz

Santa Cruz, officially the Municipality of Santa Cruz, is a 1st class municipality

in the Province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The place now known as Santa Cruz was the

site where Captain Juan de Salcedo landed to get provisions, especially water, on his

way to pacify the North. As soon as they came ashore, his men went immediately to the

top of the highest sand dune and planted a big wooden cross to signify the place has

been conquered by the white men (like what they did later in Santa Catalina). This cross

is visible to mariners passing by, often describing the place as "Santa Cruz." The cross

may have vanished, but the name Santa Cruzstuck, especially with natives who

became Christians.
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Figure 6

Map of Municipality of Sta. Lucia

Santa Lucia, officially the Municipality of Santa Lucia, is a 3rd class municipality

in the Province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The town celebrates its annual fiesta on

December 13, the feast of its patroness, Saint Lucy.

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Figure 7

Map of City of Candon

Candon, officially the City of Candon, is a 4th class component city in

the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Dubbed as the "Tobacco Capital of the

Philippines" the city is the country's largest producer of Virginia-type tobacco. This

once small resort town is known for making the heaviest and largest kalamay, a sweet

and sticky snack made from sticky rice, coconut milk and sugar, in the world. This city

also has a rich historical background. In its legends, the name of the city is derived from

the legendary "kandong" tree which is now but extinct in the area. Its patron saint

is John of Sahagun and his feast day is celebrated every June 12.
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Figure 8

Map of Municipality of Santiago

Santiago, officially the Municipality of Santiago, is a 4th class municipality in

the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Santiago Cove is dubbed as the "Boracay of

Ilocos Sur" because of its white sands. Santiago is the headquarters of the Ilocos Sur

Electric Cooperative (ISECO), which distributes electricity to the entire province.

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Figure 9
Map of Municipality of San Esteban

San Esteban, officially the Municipality of San Esteban, is a 5th

class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The Spaniards

named the pueblo (the equivalent of a municipality in present-day terms) San

Esteban (formerly known as ''Cabagbagototan'') because they have received

reports of a vagabond named Iban having been stoned to death and beheaded by

hostile natives in the place called "Naglawlawayan," which is an early place of

worship by the natives, and currently the site of the municipal cemetery. "Iban" is

the Ilocano equivalent of "Stephen," hence the pueblo being named San Esteban.

San Esteban was founded by Agustinian friars in 1625, but was always

attached to Nueva Coveta (present-day Burgos) and to the municipality

of Santiago until 1911. It was once a visita of Narvacan because of a shortage of

ministers.
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Figure 10

Map of Municipality of Santa Maria

Santa Maria, officially the Municipality of Santa Maria, is a 3rd

class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Situated at the western

coastline of the island of Luzon, Santa Maria is nestled in a valley surrounded by

mountains. It lies in the central part of the province of Ilocos Sur.

The town is home to the Our Lady of the Assumption Church (Nuestra Señora

de la Asuncion), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The townspeople celebrate

their patronal fiesta in honor of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Assumption (more

commonly known as Apo Baket) every August 15 and lasting for several days.
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Figure 11

Map of Municipality of Narvacan

Narvacan, officially the Municipality of Narvacan, is a 2nd

class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Narvacan was discovered

by a Spanish expeditionary force sent from Vigan by the military officer and navigator,

Captain Juan de Salcedo. The Spanish expeditionary force was shipwrecked along the

town's coast. When they were being rescued by the natives, the Spaniards asked the

natives what was the name of their place. The resident's leader replied in an Ilocano

dialect by asking the Spaniards "Nalbakan?" meaning "Are you shipwrecked?" The

Spaniards thought this to be the answer to their question, and from then on, the place

was referred to as Narvacan.

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Figure 12

Map of Municipality of Santa

Santa, officially the Municipality of Santa, is a 4th class municipality in

the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Santa has an area of 109.1 square kilometres

(42.1 sq mi), which is distributed in twenty-six (26) barangays and constitutes almost

4.2% of the entire area of the province of Ilocos Sur.

Due to Santa's natural setting (the ridge of Mount Tetas de Santa in the east; the

winding Abra River and delta in the north and NW of Santa; and the South China Sea to

the west), then Governor-General of the Philippines Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. on his

visit in 1925 exclaimed: “The mountain in the east, the winding roping river in the

north, and the immense sea in the west make Santa a poetic town.”
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Figure 13

Map of Municipality of Bantay

Bantay, officially the Municipality of Bantay, is a 3rd class municipality in

the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Bantay has an average elevation of 100 meters

(328.08 feet), with a land area of 7,660 hectares (18,900 acres). It is bounded by Vigan

City and the municipalities of Caoayan, San Vicente, Santa Catalina, Sto. Domingo,

and Magsingal, Ilocos Sur; and San Quintin in the neighboring province of Abra. It is

an elevated and hilly municipality but some barangays, especially those near creeks,

are being flooded during heavy typhoons.

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Figure 14

Map of Municipality of San ildefonso

San Ildefonso, officially the Municipality of San Ildefonso, is a 5th

class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The town is rich in rice,

corn, sugarcane, malunggay, katuday & fruit-bearing trees such as star apple, chico,

mango, camachile & atis. Its main product is basi, a wine made from fermented

sugarcane juice; as well as cane vinegar. They also make nutritious ice cream made up

of vegetables in Barangay Bungro, and is being popularized by the town's local

government.

San Ildefonso was a former rancheria of Bantay before it became a

municipality, but because of its size it was annexed to Santo Domingo as a barrio. In
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1921, Assemblyman (and future Philippine president) Elpidio Quirino worked to

convert San Ildefonso into a municipality again.

Figure 15

Map of Municipality of Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, officially the Municipality of Santo Domingo, is a 3rd

class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The name of the

municipality came from its old moniker, "Paggappuan ti Santol ti Domingo," an

Ilocano term meaning "The source of the Santol sold every Sunday." Santol

(Sandoricum koetjape) is the name of the tree bearing round, yellowish fruits growing

in abundance in the municipality, notably in Barangay Pussuac.

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Figure 16

Map of Municipality of Magsingal

Magsingal, officially the Municipality of Magsingal, is a 3rd

class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The town of Magsingal

was founded in the year 1676 under orders of Captain Juan de Salcedo of the Spanish

Army.

The first people of this municipality were Itnegs. They believed in many Gods,

like the sun, moon, stars and the earth. Up to this day, some people still commit mistake

by saying “Apo Init” or “Apo Bulan”, evidently transmitted to us by our forefathers. It

was believed that the first people of this municipality came from Malay Peninsula by

bancas or barangay. All the occupants of each banca settled in a certain place and the
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wealthiest, wisest, strongest and most fearful and courageous among them was

recognized as the leader or ruler of the settled place. The Itnegs called the ruler Cabeza

de Barangay or “Apo Lakay”. He was an acknowledged leader, authorized to settle

disputes in accordance with the customs and traditions of their ancestors and the people.

There were only six (6) barangay before the onset of the colonizers namely: Bangay,

Bangbangcag, Malungon, Cabanayan, Quinnuang and the place where the poblacion is

now situated.

Figure 17

Map of Municipality of San Juan

San Juan, formerly Lapog and officially the Municipality of San Juan, is a 3rd

class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The town of Lapog was

established in 1772. Because it produces most of the goods made of buri leaf in the

province, it is sometimes called the Buri Capital of Ilocos Sur.

The name of the municipality has gone through a series of changes. The early

settlers and occupants called it "Lapo", short for "Lapo-Lapo", a tall grass which grew
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everywhere in the area. In the year 1772, Don Tomas Aquino, the first local leader,

initiated the organization of the scattered communities into one, calling the place

"Lapog", a derivative of local vernacular "Lap-Lapog" which means unirrigated land.

For 189 years, "Lapog" remained in the records as the official name of the town until

June 18, 1961, Republic Act No. 3386 was enacted and it was renamed to San Juan.

Since most of the inhabitants were of the belief that religious names bring peace,

happiness, and prosperity, the town was renamed "San Juan", after the name of its

patron saint, Saint John the Baptist.

Figure 18

Map of Municipality of Cabugao

Cabugao, officially the Municipality of Cabugao, is a 1st class municipality in

the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Cabugao is the second northernmost town of

the province of Ilocos Sur. It is 27 kilometres (17 mi) from Vigan City, the capital of

the province; 55 kilometres (34 mi) from Laoag City, the capital of Ilocos Norte; 163

kilometres (101 mi) from the San Fernando, La Union, the regional center; and 432
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kilometres (268 mi) north of Manila. It is accessible to almost all modes of land

transportation and a 7–kilometer portion of the MacArthur Highway passes through the

town center. Its total land area is 9,556 hectares (23,610 acres). It is bounded on the

north by Sinait; on the south by San Juan; on the east by Nueva Era, Ilocos Norte and

the Cordillera Mountain Ranges; and on the west by the South China Sea.

Figure 19

Map of Municipality of Sinait

Sinait, officially the Municipality of Sinait, is a 3rd class municipality in

the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Sinait is a rustic town in the province of Ilocos

Sur and is known as the Garlic Capital of the North because of its robust trade and

cultivation of the spice. The town is also home to the Miraculous Statue of the Black

Nazarene, held in high regard and devotion by Ilocanos.

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Statement of the Problem

This study was conducted to determine the possible alternative route in order to

avoid the traffic congestion of The Province of Ilocos Sur by tracing the graph.

Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions.

1. What are the best possible routes for people to pass Ilocos Sur to avoid

traffic congestion?

2. What are the traffic prone areas in Ilocos Sur?

3. What is the optimal and efficient route in traversing all the destinations in

terms of:

a. distance

b. time

4. Should the researchers recommend to build a road for a possible alternative

route when there is none?

Significance of the Study

The importance of this study showed the possible alternative routes in Ilocos Sur.

By the application of graph theory, the researcher was able to trace the graph and

identify the properties of the graph formed based on the route taken. In addition, the

researchers believed that this study will be a great value to the following:
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Travelers. This would help them to make it easier to go to their destination

without experiencing traffic congestion.

Drivers. This would help them to avoid getting angry when stuck to a traffic

which may lead to a serious accidents

Locale. This will help the provincial government of the Ilocos Sur and

people living in the province as it can help them to reduce traffic congestion.

Researcher. It served as a baseline information or reference for those who are

working or conducting a research related to this study.

Definition of Terms

Congestion is an overcrowding of something, in this case the overcrowding of vehicles

in roadways.

Google Map is a web-based service that offers satellite imagery, street maps, 360°

panoramic views of streets, real-time traffic conditions and route planning for travelling

by foot, car, bicycle or public transportation.

Waze is a social traffic & navigation app based on the world’s largest community of

drivers sharing real time road info and contributing to the "common good" out there on

the road. By simply driving around with Waze open users passively contribute traffic

and other road data. Users can take a more active role by sharing road reports on

accidents, police traps, or any other hazards along the way, helping to give other users

in the area a ‘heads-up’ about what’s to come.

Graph a diagram showing the relation between variable quantities, typically of two

variables, each measured along one of a pair of axes at right angles.

Route is a possible pathway (like road, street) to reach the place.

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Algorithm is a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-

solving operations, especially by a computer.

Scope and Limitation

This study focused on the application of how some concepts of graph theory

works in identifying the possible alternative route to avoid traffic congestion in passing

Ilocos Sur. It is focused on some of the towns of the Province. The researcher selected

16 towns to pass from the Province of Ilocos Sur which includes: Tagudin, Sta. Lucia,

Sta. Cruz, Candon, Santiago, San Esteban, Sta. Maria, Narvacan, Santa, Bantay, San

Ildefonso, Sto. Domingo, Magsingal, San Juan, Cabugao, and Sinait. This study was

limited only on the process of tracing the places by relating the concept of Dijkstra's

algorithm
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REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A research by Dijkstra (1959) proposed a graph search algorithm that can be

used to solve the single-source shortest path problem for any graph that has a non-

negative edge path cost. This graph search algorithm was later modified by Lee in 2006

and was applied to the vehicle guidance system. This vehicle guidance system is

divided into two paths; namely, the shortest path and the fastest path algorithms(Chen

et al., 2009).While the shortest path algorithm focuses on route length parameter and

calculates the shortest route between each OD pair, the fastest path algorithm focuses

on the path with minimum travel time. The future travel time can be predicted based on

prediction models using historical data for link travel time information which can be

daily, weekly or even a session.

Moreover, Meghanathan (2012) reviewed Dijkstra’s algorithm and Bellman-

Ford algorithm for finding the shortest path in a graph. He concluded that the time

complexity of Dijkstra’s algorithm is O (|E|*log |V|) while the time complexity of the

Bellman-Ford algorithm is O (|V||E|).

Another study by Lili Cao et al (2005) concluded that the search for the shortest

path is an essential primitive for a variety of graph-based applications, particularly those

on online social networks. An example is the LinkedIn platform where users perform

queries to find the shortest path “social links” connecting them to a particular user to

facilitate introductions. This type of graph query is challenging for moderately sized

graphs but becomes computationally intractable for graphs underlying today’s social

networks, most of which contain millions of nodes and billions of edges. They propose

Atlas, a novel approach to scalable approximate shortest paths between graph nodes
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using a collection of spanning trees. Spanning trees are easy to generate, compact

relative to original graphs, and can be distributed across machines to parallelize queries.

They demonstrate its scalability and effectiveness using 6 large social graphs from

Facebook, Orkut, and Renren, the largest of which includes 43 million nodes and 1

billion edges. They describe techniques to incrementally update Atlas as social graphs

change over time. They capture graph dynamics using 35 daily snapshots of a Facebook

network and show that Atlas can amortize the cost of tree updates over time. Finally,

they apply Atlas to several graph applications and show that they produce results that

closely approximate ideal results.

Another study by Pallottino and Scutella (1997) reported on Shortest Path

Algorithms in Transportation models: classical and innovative aspects. They reviewed

the shortest path algorithms in transportations in two parts. The first part includes

classical primal and dual algorithms which are the most interesting in transportation,

either as a result of theoretical considerations or as a result of their efficiencies, and in

view of their practical use in transportation models. They discussed the Promising re-

optimization approaches involved. The second part includes dynamic shortest path

problems that arise frequently in the transportation field. They analyzed the main

features of the problems present under suitable conditions on travel time and cost

functions, a general “chronological” algorithmic paradigm, called Chrono-SPT.

Another study by Andrew V. Goldberg (2008) studies Point-to-Point (P2P)

Shortest Path Algorithms. In recent times, good development has taken place on the

Point-to-Point shortest path algorithms with pre-processing. The algorithms proved to

be efficient in practice on road networks and some other kinds of graphs. There are

some questions, particularly theoretical, that remain open. Therefore, a theoretical

justification for these algorithms is necessary. Two possible directions are proving good
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worst-case bounds for the algorithms on special graph types or proving average-case

bounds on graph distributions. For the latter, random grids are interesting candidates.

Computing reaches is another set of open question. One can modify a standard all-pairs

shortest path algorithm to compute reaches in the same time bound, which is O*(n2)

for sparse graphs. Since the size of the output for the all-pairs problem is (n2), there is

limited room for improvement. As reaches need only one value per vertex, this

argument does not apply to the problem of computing reaches. An interesting open

question is the existence of an algorithm that computes reaches – or provably good

upper bounds on reaches – in O (n2) time.

An study by Li et al (2008) proposed an efficient algorithm named Li-Qi (LQ)

for the SSSP problem with the objective of finding a simple path of the smallest total

weights from a specific initial or source vertex to every other vertex within the graph.

This algorithm is formed from the ideas of the queue and relaxation; the vertices may

be queued several times, and furthermore, only the source vertex and relaxed vertices

are being queued.

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METHODOLOGY

Gathering Procedure

This study made use of the descriptive method of research. The researcher

utilized the Google App found in the internet guide to look into the road networks of

the given towns and the information needed in the study. These towns were chosen by

the researchers through a website called "GOOGLE MAPS", which is a Web-based

service that provides detailed information about geographical regions and sites around

the world. In addition to conventional road maps, Google Maps offers aerial and

satellite views of many places. This website provides a view on the different towns

needed to pass the province of Ilocos Sur when traveling from the southern part of

Luzon to Ilocos Norte vice versa by a car. These different towns are as follows:

Tagudin, Sta. Lucia, Sta. Cruz, Candon, Santiago, San Esteban, Sta. Maria, Narvacan,

Santa, Bantay, San Ildefonso, Sto. Domingo, Magsingal, San Juan, Cabugao, and

Sinait.

The distances (in kilometer, km.) between each town is accounted and the time

(in minutes, min.) that is consumed in passing through each town has been calculated

and included in the Google Map. Based on the information collected online, the

researcher formed a graph to design a Personalized Manual Map for those who are

planning to pass through the province of Ilocos Sur using alternative routes to avoid

traffic congestion.

After forming the graph of the given towns, the researcher determined the

shortest possible alternative routes of each of the given towns and compare the results

to the original routes during the rush hours. To identify the shortest route, they
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considered the time and the distance to pass the towns of Ilocos Sur from one place to

another. From the graph formed, they identified the classification of the graphs

according to the different properties present in the graph.