Importing, exporting, and modifying routes

VERSION 0.44.1
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In addition to generating routes, the SDK allows developers to manipulate them to a limited degree. Specifically, you can:

  • Import routes from GPX files.
  • Export routes to GPX files.
  • Split one route into smaller routes.
  • Combine multiple routes into one larger route.

These manipulations are done by treating a route as a series of points. A Route in the SDK can contain two kinds of points:

  • Waypoints are locations that a route can be planned to pass through. They generate arrival events when the driver reaches them. For example, they can be places a driver wants to visit on a road trip or delivery locations for a cargo van.
  • Supporting points are geographical points that define the geometry of an existing route.

Before the SDK can use a series of points as a route (e.g., to show it on a map), it must be turned into a TomTom route. There are two ways to do this:

  • Planning a new route that passes through the route’s waypoints.
  • Reconstructing the route from its supporting points. This results in a route with a similar geometry to the original. The returned RoutePlanningResponse can be used in the SDK like any other route. To include waypoints when reconstructing a route in this way, divide the geometry into legs that connect the waypoints, and pass them as a list of RouteLegOptions instances.

This tutorial contains code snippets to do all of these things except for planning a new route, which is explained in the Waypoints and custom routes guide.

Constructing a route from a GPX file

To use a route from a GPX file, first extract the route data from it. Use a third-party GPX file parser library to do so. This example uses CoreGPX.

1guard let inputPath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Test", ofType: "gpx"),
2 let gpx = GPXParser(withPath: inputPath)?.parsedData() else { return }
3
4print("coordinates:", gpx.waypoints.map { ($0.latitude, $0.longitude) })

Then create a route, either by reconstructing it using the track points in the imported geometry as supporting points, or by planning a new one that passes through the imported waypoints.

Exporting a route into a GPX file

To export a route from the SDK, extract its legs as track segments as follows:

1private func locationsToGpx(locations: [CLLocationCoordinate2D], waypoints: [RouteStop]) -> String {
2 let root = GPXRoot(creator: "Example root")
3 var trackpoints = [GPXTrackPoint]()
4 locations.forEach { location in
5 let point = GPXTrackPoint(latitude: location.latitude, longitude: location.longitude)
6 trackpoints.append(point)
7 }
8 let track = GPXTrack() // initiates a track
9 let tracksegment = GPXTrackSegment() // initiates a tracksegment
10 tracksegment.add(trackpoints: trackpoints) // adds an array of trackpoints to a track segment
11 track.add(trackSegment: tracksegment) // adds a track segment to a track
12 root.add(waypoints: waypoints.map { waypoint -> GPXWaypoint in
13 let coordinate = waypoint.navigableCoordinates.first ?? waypoint.place.coordinate
14 return GPXWaypoint(latitude: coordinate.latitude, longitude: coordinate.longitude)
15 })
16 root.add(track: track)
17
18 return root.gpx()
19}

Splitting a route

Every leg of a route is self-contained. This means that a route can be split into combinations of one or more legs:

1private func splitRoute(route: Route, waypointIndex: Int) {
2 assert(route.legs.count > waypointIndex + 1)
3
4 let firstHalf = route.legs[..<waypointIndex]
5 let secondHalf = route.legs[waypointIndex...]
6
7 let firstGeometry = firstHalf.flatMap { $0.geometry }
8 let secondGeometry = secondHalf.flatMap { $0.geometry }
9
10 print("firstGeometry: \(firstGeometry)")
11 print("secondGeometry: \(secondGeometry)")
12}

Once the legs have been split, you can reconstruct them into separate routes.

Combining routes

Routes can be joined by combining their geometries:

1private func joinRoutes(route1: Route, route2: Route) {
2 let geometry1 = route1.geometry
3 let geometry2 = route2.geometry
4
5 let joinedGeometry = geometry1 + geometry2
6
7 print("joinedGeometry: \(joinedGeometry)")
8}

The resulting geometry can then be used to reconstruct the combined route.

Reconstructing a route with the TomTom Routing Service

To reconstruct a route from a list of supporting points, do the following:

1private func geometryToRoute(
2 geometry: [CLLocationCoordinate2D],
3 completion: @escaping (Result<RoutePlanningResponse, Error>) -> ()
4) {
5 guard let origin = (geometry.first.map { ItineraryPoint(coordinate: $0, name: nil, address: nil) }) else { return }
6 guard let destination = (geometry.last.map { ItineraryPoint(coordinate: $0, name: nil, address: nil) }) else { return }
7
8 let itineraryPoints = (geometry.map { ItineraryPoint(coordinate: $0, name: nil, address: nil) })
9
10 let routingOptions: RoutePlanningOptions
11 do {
12 routingOptions = try RoutePlanningOptions(
13 itinerary: Itinerary(origin: origin, destination: destination, waypoints: itineraryPoints)
14 )
15 } catch {
16 print("Invalid planning options: \(error.localizedDescription)")
17 return
18 }
19
20 routePlanner.planRoute(options: routingOptions, onRouteReady: nil) { result in
21 completion(result)
22
23 switch result {
24 case let .success(response):
25 print(response.routes)
26 case let .failure(error):
27 print(error)
28 }
29 }
30}

Next steps

Since you have learned how to modify a route, here are recommendations for the next steps: