Efficient and fast initialization algorithm for k-means clustering

Abstract

The famous K-means clustering algorithm is sensitive to the selection of the initial centroids and may converge to a local minimum of the criterion function value. A new algorithm for initialization of the K-means clustering algorithm is presented. The proposed initial starting centroids procedure allows the K-means algorithm to converge to a “better” local minimum. Our algorithm shows that refined initial starting centroids indeed lead to improved solutions. A framework for implementing and testing various clustering algorithms is presented and used for developing and evaluating the algorithm.