Multidimensional scaling with city block norm in embedding space is considered. Construction of the corresponding algorithm
is reduced to minimization of a piecewise quadratic function. The two level algorithm is developed combining combinatorial
minimization at upper level with local minimization at lower level. Results of experimental investigation of the efficiency
of the proposed algorithm are presented as well as examples of its application to visualization of multidimensional data.
Keywords Multilevel optimization - Multidimensional scaling - Metaheuristics - Global optimization