GAVEL - a new tool for genetic algorithm visualization

This paper surveys the state of the art in evolutionary algorithm visualization and describes a new tool called GAVEL. It provides a means to examine in a genetic algorithm (GA) how crossover and mutation operations assembled the final result, where each of the alleles came from, and a way to trace the history of user-selected sets of alleles. A visualization tool of this kind can be very useful in choosing operators and parameters and in analyzing how and, indeed, whether or not a GA works. We describe the new tool and illustrate some of the benefits that can be gained from using it with reference to three different problems: a timetabling problem, a job-shop scheduling problem, and Goldberg and Horn's long-path problem. We also compare the tool to other available visualization tools, pointing out those features which are novel and identifying complementary features in other tools.