  We study clustering methods for binary data, first defining aggregation
criteria that measure the compactness of clusters. Five new and original
methods are introduced, using neighborhoods and population behavior
combinatorial optimization metaheuristics: first ones are simulated annealing,
threshold accepting and tabu search, and the others are a genetic algorithm and
ant colony optimization. The methods are implemented, performing the proper
calibration of parameters in the case of heuristics, to ensure good results.
From a set of 16 data tables generated by a quasi-Monte Carlo experiment, a
comparison is performed for one of the aggregations using L1 dissimilarity,
with hierarchical clustering, and a version of k-means: partitioning around
medoids or PAM. Simulated annealing perform very well, especially compared to
classical methods.
