Given a set of points $P = (P^+ \sqcup P^-) \subset \mathbb{R}^d$ for some constant $d$ and a supply function $μ:P\to \mathbb{R}$ such that $μ(p) > 0~\forall p \in P^+$, $μ(p) < 0~\forall p \in P^-$, and $\sum_{p\in P}{μ(p)} = 0$, the geometric transportation problem asks one to find a transportation map $τ: P^+\times P^-\to \mathbb{R}_{\ge 0}$ such that $\sum_{q\in P^-}{τ(p, q)} = μ(p)~\forall p \in P^+$, $\sum_{p\in P^+}{τ(p, q)} = -μ(q)~ \forall q \in P^-$, and the weighted sum of Euclidean distances for the pairs $\sum_{(p,q)\in P^+\times P^-}τ(p, q)\cdot ||q-p||_2$ is minimized. We present the first deterministic algorithm that computes, in near-linear time, a transportation map whose cost is within a $(1 + \varepsilon)$ factor of optimal. More precisely, our algorithm runs in $O(n\varepsilon^{-(d+2)}\log^5{n}\log{\log{n}})$ time for any constant $\varepsilon > 0$. Surprisingly, our result is not only a generalization of a bipartite matching one to arbitrary instances of geometric transportation, but it also reduces the running time for all previously known $(1 + \varepsilon)$-approximation algorithms, randomized or deterministic, even for geometric bipartite matching. In particular, we give the first $(1 + \varepsilon)$-approximate deterministic algorithm for geometric bipartite matching and the first $(1 + \varepsilon)$-approximate deterministic or randomized algorithm for geometric transportation with no dependence on $d$ in the exponent of the running time's polylog. As an additional application of our main ideas, we also give the first randomized near-linear $O(\varepsilon^{-2} m \log^{O(1)} n)$ time $(1 + \varepsilon)$-approximation algorithm for the uncapacitated minimum cost flow (transshipment) problem in undirected graphs with arbitrary real edge costs.

To appear in FOCS 2023. 24 pages. Update 2: Added corrections for minimum cost flow approximation scheme. Addressed reviewer comments. Update 1: Adds a new randomized near-linear time approximation scheme for uncapacitated minimum cost flow in undirected graphs (transshipment) with arbitrary edge costs. References more recent work in geometric bipartite matching