Efficient Search in Graph Edit Distance: Metric Search Trees vs. Brute Force Verification

TL;DR

This paper compares metric search trees and brute-force verification for graph edit distance computation, finding that the expected efficiency gains of metric trees are not consistently realized in practice due to computational complexity.

Contribution

It provides an empirical evaluation of Cascading Metric Trees versus brute-force methods for graph similarity search using GED, highlighting practical limitations.

Findings

CMT does not always outperform brute-force in speed

GED-based GSS remains computationally challenging

Practical efficiency gains of metric trees are limited

Abstract

This report evaluates the efficiency of Graph Edit Distance (GED) computation for graph similarity search, comparing Cascading Metric Trees (CMT) with brute-force verification. Despite the anticipated advantages of CMT, our findings indicate it does not consistently outperform brute-force methods in speed. The study, based on graph data from PubChem, suggests that the computational complexity of GED-based GSS remains a challenge.