Routes

A route (Route) is a GeoJSON Feature whose LineString geometry is the path. Its properties carry the summary, sections, guidance and progress. calculateRoute returns Routes, a FeatureCollection of the main route and its alternatives.

Where routes are used

• Route calculation returns them, configured by the route planning parameters.
• The routing module displays them.
• The route utilities read them for waypoint insertion, section bounds and progress along the route.

Route object structure

• id - A unique string, distinguishing a route from its alternatives.
• bbox - The bounding box of the route.
• geometry.coordinates - The path, as [longitude, latitude] pairs.
• properties:
  • index - 0 for the main route, 1 and up for alternatives.
  • summary - Totals for the whole route.
  • sections - Stretches with a characteristic, by type.
  • guidance - Turn-by-turn instructions, if requested.
  • progress - Distance and time at points along the path.

Summary

route.properties.summary:

• Time and distance: departureTime, arrivalTime (both Date), lengthInMeters, travelTimeInSeconds.
• Traffic: trafficDelayInSeconds, trafficLengthInMeters.
• Alternative travel times, if requested: noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds, historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds, liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds.
• Where an alternative forks off, on alternatives only: deviationPoint, and the deviationDistanceInMeters and deviationTimeInSeconds from the start to it.

Sections

route.properties.sections groups the stretches of a route by type. Each section spans a range of indices into the route's coordinates. sectionTypes sets which types a calculation returns. A requested type appears only where the route has such a stretch (no ferry without a water crossing). The routing module draws them.

Section types

• Structure:
  • leg - From one stop to the next, with its own summary. Always present.
  • distinct - The stretches no other route of the response drives. Present on every route when there are two or more. See getDistinctSections.
  • country - One per country crossed, covering the route end to end.
  • importantRoadStretch - The street names and road numbers that identify the route's course. See getImportantRoads for them road by road.
• Road types: motorway, ferry, carTrain, tunnel, pedestrian, urban, unpaved.
• Costs and restrictions:
  • toll - Stretches charging a per-use toll, either a ticket or barrier motorway or a free-flow tolling point.
  • tollRoad - Stretches that cost money by any scheme, including every toll section, vignette-only motorways and urban charge zones.
  • tollVignette - One per country requiring a vignette.
  • carpool, lowEmissionZone, vehicleRestricted.
• Traffic and guidance:
  • traffic - Stretches with a traffic incident.
  • lanes - Lane configurations, only with guidance.
  • speedLimit, roadShields.

Section properties

Every section has id, startPointIndex and endPointIndex (inclusive). These types have more:

• leg:
  • summary - The leg's own totals, plus stopTimeInSeconds if the route waits at the stop it ends at.
  • originalWaypointIndex - The entry of the request's locations this leg arrives at. A path location expands into legs of its own, so legs[i] is not reliably the leg arriving at locations[i + 1]. It is absent on the final leg and on legs ending where you did not ask, so handle undefined.
• distinct - lengthInMeters, measured along the route.
• traffic:
  • categories - The same values as a traffic incident's category, e.g. ['jam'].
  • magnitudeOfDelay - 'unknown', 'minor', 'moderate', 'major' or 'indefinite'.
  • delayInSeconds, effectiveSpeedInKmh.
  • eventId - The incident behind the section. Pass it to traffic incident details for the whole record.
  • tec - TPEG2-TEC effect and cause codes, absent when the service has none.
• country - countryCodeISO2 (e.g. 'NL'), countryCodeISO3 (e.g. 'NLD'). tollVignette sections carry the same.
• importantRoadStretch - index (0 is the most important, and equal indices belong to one stretch), streetName, roadNumbers (e.g. ['A1', 'E30']).
• lanes - lanes (each with its possible directions and the one to follow), laneSeparators.
• speedLimit - maxSpeedLimitInKmh.
• roadShields - roadShieldReferences.

Progress

Unless the calculation passed extendedRouteRepresentations: [], route.properties.progress gives the cumulative distance and time at points along the path.

• pointIndex - An index into the route's coordinates. The first and last points are always included.
• distanceInMeters, travelTimeInSeconds - From the start of the route.

The progress utilities interpolate between these points.

Guidance

If you request guidance, each of route.properties.guidance.instructions has:

• message - The instruction text, localised by the service, e.g. 'Turn right onto Damrak'.
• maneuver - The maneuver code, e.g. 'TURN_RIGHT'.
• maneuverPoint - Where it happens, [longitude, latitude]. pathPointIndex is its index in the route's coordinates.
• routeOffsetInMeters - Its distance from the start of the route.
• previousRoadInfo, nextRoadInfo - The roads before and after it.

API reference

Route

Related guides and examples

Related guides

• Routing quickstart
• Route planning parameters
• Route utilities

Map integration

• Routing module

Related examples

• Route with waypoints: calculate and show a route
• Route with alternatives: several route options, and the roads each one has to itself