Algorithm Optimization - Shortest Route Between Multiple Points

Question

Problem: I have a large collection of points. Each of these points has a list with references to other points with the distance between them already calculated and stored. I

Answer 1

This sounds Travelling Salesman-esque? One solution is to use an optimisation technique such as an evolutionary algorithm. Currently you are doing an exhaustive search, which will get very slow very quickly. But I think this is pretty much a travelling salesman problem and it has been tackled for several decades if not centuries, and such there are several possible ways of attack. Google is your friend.