Starting coordinates are not good for some maps

[drserajames]

My understanding is that the randomisation step before optimisation is the same as the default behaviour of randomizeCoords(); "The maximum table distance is calculated then points are randomized in a box with side length equal to maximum table distance multiplied by table_dist_factor" where table_dist_factor=2. I tried relaxing a map with different table_dist_factor and found that 2 was not good (both in terms of stress and how the map looks - I have some not very well coordinated points that were getting hemisphered). table_dist_factor=0.1 had the lowest stress. table_dist_factor=0.01 had the next lowest (0.2% higher) and the map looked more consistent.

My ideal behaviour would be allowing the user to set the table_dist_factor when running optimizeMap(), perhaps as part of RacOptimizer.options. I don't know if the default should change, or if it's particular to large maps/those with lots of missing titres/this map. I expect a default based on the average distance would be better, as the maximum is affected by outliers.