  We propose a new algorithm for fast approximate nearest neighbor search based
on the properties of ordered vectors. Data vectors are classified based on the
index and sign of their largest components, thereby partitioning the space in a
number of cones centered in the origin. The query is itself classified, and the
search starts from the selected cone and proceeds to neighboring ones. Overall,
the proposed algorithm corresponds to locality sensitive hashing in the space
of directions, with hashing based on the order of components. Thanks to the
statistical features emerging through ordering, it deals very well with the
challenging case of unstructured data, and is a valuable building block for
more complex techniques dealing with structured data. Experiments on both
simulated and real-world data prove the proposed algorithm to provide a
state-of-the-art performance.
