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Routing API and Extended Routing API
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Calculate Route

 

Service version: 1.0
Last edit: 2019.11.28

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Purpose

The Calculate Route service calculates a route between an origin and a destination, passing through waypoints if they are specified.

  • The route will take into account factors such as current traffic and the typical road speeds on the requested day of the week and time of day.
  • Information returned includes the distance, estimated travel time, and a representation of the route geometry.
  • Additional routing information such as optimized waypoint order or turn by turn instructions is also available, depending on the options selected.

Run this endpoint

You can easily run this and other endpoints.

  1. Go to the TomTom API Explorer page.
  2. Click an endpoint.

    1. Click Try it out.
    2. Enter/select all required parameter values and any optional parameter values.
    3. At the bottom of the form, click Execute.
  3. Review the Response.

Request data

HTTPS method: GETPOST

Generic Request format

The following Request URL contains all of this endpoint's respective parameters. For their details, please see the Common Routing Parameters page.

For ease of viewing and identification:

  • Required constants and parameters are shown in bold text.
  • Optional parameters are shown in plain text.
https://baseURL/routing/versionNumber/calculateRoute/locations/contentType?key=*****
    &callback=callback
    &maxAlternatives=alternativeRoutes
    &alternativeType=alternativeType
    &minDeviationDistance=integer
    &minDeviationTime=integer
    &instructionsType=instructionsType
    &language=language
    &computeBestOrder=boolean
    &routeRepresentation=routeRepresentation
    &computeTravelTimeFor=trafficTypes
    &vehicleHeading=integer
    &sectionType=sectionType
    &report=effectiveSettings
    &departAt=time
    &arriveAt=time
    &routeType=routeType
    &traffic=boolean
    &avoid=avoidType
    &travelMode=travelMode
    &hilliness=hilliness
    &windingness=windingness
    &vehicleMaxSpeed=vehicleMaxSpeed
    &vehicleWeight=vehicleWeight
    &vehicleAxleWeight=vehicleAxleWeight
    &vehicleLength=vehicleLength
    &vehicleWidth=vehicleWidth
    &vehicleHeight=vehicleHeight
    &vehicleCommercial=boolean
    &vehicleLoadType=vehicleLoadType
    &vehicleEngineType=vehicleEngineType
    &constantSpeedConsumptionInLitersPerHundredkm=CombustionConstantSpeedConsumptionPairs
    &currentFuelInLiters=float
    &auxiliaryPowerInLitersPerHour=float
    &fuelEnergyDensityInMJoulesPerLiter=float
    &accelerationEfficiency=float
    &decelerationEfficiency=float
    &uphillEfficiency=float
    &downhillEfficiency=float
    &constantSpeedConsumptionInkWhPerHundredkm=ElectricConstantSpeedConsumptionPairs
    &currentChargeInkWh=float
    &maxChargeInkWh=float
    &auxiliaryPowerInkW=float

GET URL example

Note: Linebreaks are designated by "\".

https://api.tomtom.com/routing/1/calculateRoute/\
52.50931,13.42936:52.50274,13.43872/json?\
instructionsType=text&language=en-US\
&vehicleHeading=90&sectionType=traffic\
&report=effectiveSettings&routeType=eco\
&traffic=true&avoid=unpavedRoads\
&travelMode=car&vehicleMaxSpeed=120\
&vehicleCommercial=false&vehicleEngineType=combustion\
&key=*****

GET curl command

Note: Linebreaks are designated by "\".

curl -X GET "https://api.tomtom.com/routing/1/calculateRoute/\
52.50931,13.42936:52.50274,13.43872/json?\
instructionsType=text&language=en-US&vehicleHeading=90\
&sectionType=traffic&report=effectiveSettings\
&routeType=eco&traffic=true&avoid=unpavedRoads\
&travelMode=car&vehicleMaxSpeed=120&vehicleCommercial=false\
&vehicleEngineType=combustion&key=*****" -H "accept:*/*"

POST URL example

For ease of viewing and identification:

  • Required constants and parameters are shown in bold text.
  • Optional parameters are shown in plain text.
https://api.tomtom.com/routing/1/calculateRoute/52.50931,13.42936:52.50274,13.43872/json?key=*****

POST curl command

curl -X POST "https://api.tomtom.com/routing/1/calculateRoute/52.50931,13.42936:52.50274,13.43872/json?key=*****"\
  -H "Content-type:application/json" -d\
  '{
    "supportingPoints":[
      {
        "latitude": 52.50930, "longitude": 13.42936
      },
      {
        "latitude":52.50844, "longitude": 13.42859
      }
    ],
    "avoidVignette": [
      "AUS","CHE"
    ]
  }'

Types

The following data table describes a subset of the types that can be used in the Calculate Route service; the remaining types are listed on the Common Routing Parameters page.
Type Description
circle A circle with a center point and a radius (in meters). The radius must be a positive integer with the maximum value of 135000.
Example: circle(52.37245,4.89406,10000)
location A point or a circle.
Example:

  • 52.37245,4.89406
  • circle(52.37245,4.89406,10000)

Headers

There currently are no additional headers specific to the Calculate Route service. The common headers are listed on the Common Routing Parameters page.

Base path parameters

The following table describes a subset of the parameters that can be used in the Calculate Route service. The remaining parameters are listed on the Common Routing Parameters page.

  • Required parameters must be used or the call will fail.
  • The order of the required parameters is important and must be followed.
  • There are no optional parameters.
Required parameters: Base path
Parameter Description
versionNumber
integer 		The service version number.
Value: The current value is 1.
locations
string 		Locations through which the route is calculated. The following constraints apply:

  • At least two locations must be provided.
  • The first location in the sequence defines the origin and must be of type point.
  • The last location in the sequence defines the destination and must be of type point.
  • One or more optional intermediate locations (known as waypoints) may be provided:

    • The maximum allowed number of waypoints is 150.
    • A point waypoint results in an extra leg in the response, a circle waypoint does not.
    • Circle waypoints cannot be used when computeBestOrder is true.

Values: Colon-delimited locations

Request parameters

The following table describes a subset of the parameters that can be used in the Calculate Route service; the remaining parameters are listed on the Common routing parameters page.

  • There are no required parameters. All of the following parameters are optional.
  • If there is a default value that will be assumed when an optional parameter is not used, it is shown in the table.
  • The order of these optional Request parameters is not important.
Optional parameters
Parameter Description
maxAlternatives
integer 		Number of desired alternative routes to be calculated. The value provided:

  • Must be an integer in the range 0-5.
  • Using a value greater than 0 in conjunction with computeBestOrder set to true is not allowed.
  • Fewer alternative routes may be returned if either fewer alternatives exist, or the requested number of alternatives is larger than the service can calculate.

Default value: 0
Maximum value: 5

alternativeType
string 		When maxAlternatives is greater than 0, allows to specify the objective of computing alternative routes: finding routes that are significantly different than the reference route, or finding routes that are better than the reference route. Possible values are:

  • anyRoute: Return alternative routes that are significantly different from the reference route.
  • betterRoute: Return only alternative routes that are better than the reference route, according to the given planning criteria (set by routeType). If there is a road block on the reference route, then any alternative that does not contain any blockages will be considered a better route.

Note: This optional parameter can only be used when reconstructing a route.
Default value: anyRoute
Other values: betterRoute

minDeviationDistance
integer 		All alternative routes returned will follow the reference route (see the POST Requests section) from the origin point of the calculateRoute request for at least this number of meters.

  • Can only be used when reconstructing a route.
  • The minDeviationDistance parameter cannot be used in conjunction with arriveAt.

Default value: 0

minDeviationTime
integer 		All alternative routes returned will follow the reference route (see the POST Requests section) from the origin point of the calculateRoute request for at least this number of seconds.

  • Can only be used when reconstructing a route.
  • The minDeviationTime parameter cannot be used in conjunction with arriveAt.

Default value: 0

instructionsType
string 		If specified, guidance instructions will be returned (if available). Possible values are:

  • coded: Returns raw instruction data without human-readable messages.
  • text: Returns raw instructions data with human-readable messages in plain text.
  • tagged: Returns raw instruction data with tagged human-readable messages to permit formatting.
Note:
The instructionsType parameter cannot be used in conjunction with routeRepresentation=none.
If alternative routes are requested, instructions will be generated for each route returned.
See the Tagged messages section for more information about tagged messages.

Values:

  • coded
  • text
  • tagged
language
string 		The language parameter determines the language of the guidance messages.

  • It does not affect proper nouns (the names of streets, plazas, etc.).
  • It has no effect when instructionsType=coded.
  • Allowed values are (a subset of) the IETF language tags described here.
  • The currently supported languages are listed in the following Supported languages section.

Default value: en-GB

computeBestOrder
boolean 		Re-orders the route waypoints with a fast heuristic algorithm to reduce the overall route length. Yields best results when used in conjunction with routeType shortest.
Possible boolean values are:

  • true (compute a better order, if possible; not allowed to be used in conjunction with maxAlternatives value greater than 0; not allowed to be used in conjunction with circle waypoints). The Response will include the optimized waypoint indices.
  • false (use the locations in the given order). Not allowed to be used in conjunction with routeRepresentation=none.

Default value: false

routeRepresentation
string 		Specifies the representation of the set of routes provided as a Response.
Possible values are:

  • polyline: Includes routes in the Response.
  • summaryOnly: As per polyline, but excluding the XML <points> elements for the routes in the Response.
  • none: Includes only the optimized waypoint indices but does not include the routes in the Response. This parameter value can only be used in conjunction with computeBestOrder=true.

Default value: polyline
Other values:

  • summaryOnly
  • none
computeTravelTimeFor
string 		Specifies whether to return additional travel times using different types of traffic information (none, historic, live) as well as the default best-estimate travel time.
Possible values are:

  • none: Do not compute additional travel times.
  • all: Compute travel times for all types of traffic information, specifying all results in the fields:
    • noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds
    • historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds
    • liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds

    being included in the summaries in the route Response.

Default value: none
Other value: all

vehicleHeading
integer 		The directional heading of the vehicle, in degrees starting at true North and continuing in a clockwise direction.

  • North is 0 degrees.
  • East is 90 degrees.
  • South is 180 degrees.
  • West is 270 degrees.

Maximum value: 359
Other values: 0-359

sectionType
string 		Specifies which of the section types is reported in the route Response. It can be specified multiple times.

  • carTrain, ferry, tunnel or motorway: Get sections if the route includes car trains, ferries, tunnels, or motorways.
  • pedestrian: Sections that are suited for pedestrians only.
  • tollRoad: Sections that require a toll to be payed.
  • tollVignette: Sections that require a toll vignette to be present.
  • country: Countries the route has parts in.
  • travelMode: Sections in relation to the request parameter travelMode.
  • traffic: Sections that contain traffic information.

Default value: travelMode
Other values:

  • carTrain
  • country
  • ferry
  • motorway
  • pedestrian
  • tollRoad
  • tollVignette
  • traffic
  • tunnel

Further parameters not contained in the preceding table can be specified. A complete list is located in the Common Routing Parameters page. This page also includes the parameters used to define a detailed vehicle consumption model.

Using the detailed consumption model has two consequences for a calculateRoute Request:

  • When the parameter routeType is set to eco, then the Consumption Model will be taken into account for route planning.
  • When constantSpeedConsumption* is specified, the response will include either fuelConsumptionInLiters or batteryConsumptionInkWh (for vehicleEngineType set to combustion or electric, respectively) as an additional field in each summary element.

POST data parameters

The <supportingPoints> XML element is used for reconstructing a route and for calculating zero or more alternative routes to this reference route.

  • The provided sequence of supporting points is used as input for route reconstruction.
  • The alternative routes are calculated between the origin and destination points specified in the base path parameter locations.
  • If both minDeviationDistance and minDeviationTime are set to zero, then these origin and destination points are expected to be at (or very near) the beginning and end of the reference route, respectively.
  • Intermediate locations (waypoints) are not supported when using <supportingPoints>.
  • The reference route may contain traffic incidents of type ROAD_CLOSURE, which are ignored for the calculation of the reference route's travel time and traffic delay.

Setting at least one of minDeviationDistance or minDeviationTime to a value greater than zero has the following consequences:

  • The origin point of the calculateRoute Request must be on (or very near) the input reference route.

    • If this is not the case, an error is returned.
    • However, the origin point does not need to be at the beginning of the input reference route (it can be thought of as the current vehicle position on the reference route).
  • The reference route, returned as the first route in the calculateRoute Response, will start at the origin point specified in the calculateRoute Request. The initial part of the input reference route up until the origin point will be excluded from the Response.
  • The values of minDeviationDistance and minDeviationTime determine how far alternative routes will be guaranteed to follow the reference route from the origin point onwards.
  • The route must use departAt.
  • The vehicleHeading is ignored.

The following table describes a subset of the parameters that can be used in the Calculate Route service; the remaining parameters are listed on the Common Routing Parameters page.

Parameter Description
<supportingPoints> A list of base route points defined as <supportingPoint>, to be used as input for route reconstruction.
<supportingPoint> A base route point defined as a latitude longitude pair, to be used as input for route reconstruction.

XML Request content example

<postData>
  <supportingPoints>
    <supportingPoint latitude="52.50930" longitude="13.42936"/>
    <supportingPoint latitude="52.50844" longitude="13.42859"/>
  </supportingPoints>
  <avoidVignette>
    AUS,CHE
  </avoidVignette>
</postData>

The <postData> XML element may be omitted if only supportingPoints are specified, so the following example continues to be supported for backward compatibility:

<supportingPoints>
  <supportingPoint latitude="52.50930" longitude="13.42936"/>
  <supportingPoint latitude="52.50844" longitude="13.42859"/>
</supportingPoints>

JSON Request content example

{
  "supportingPoints": [
    {"latitude": 52.50930, "longitude": 13.42936},
    {"latitude": 52.50844, "longitude": 13.42859}
  ],
  "avoidVignette": [
    "AUS",
    "CHE"
  ]
}

Response data

Response headers

There currently are no additional Response headers specific to the Calculate Route service; the common Response headers are listed on the Common Routing Parameters page.

Response codes

There currently are no additional Response codes specific to the Calculate Route service; the common Response codes are listed on the Common Routing Parameters page.

Example of a successful Response

The routes in a successful Response are listed in order of decreasing optimality. In case the Request includes the supporting points <supportingPoint> XML element, the Response will specify the reconstructed route before any alternative routes.

In the following XML and JSON Response examples, note that the fields <deviationDistance>, <deviationTime> and <deviationPoint> cannot occur if there is more than one leg. This is because because waypoints and supporting points are mutually exclusive.

An XML Response could look like this: (Note: Comments are in italics.)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<calculateRouteResponse xmlns="http://api.tomtom.com/routing" formatVersion="0.0.12">
  <route>
    <summary>
      <lengthInMeters>1147</lengthInMeters>
      <travelTimeInSeconds>157</travelTimeInSeconds>
      <trafficDelayInSeconds>0</trafficDelayInSeconds>
      <departureTime>2015-04-02T14:58:40+02:00</departureTime>
      <arrivalTime>2015-04-02T15:01:17+02:00</arrivalTime>
      <noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds>120</noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds>
      <historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds>157</historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds>
      <liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds>161</liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds>
      <fuelConsumptionInLiters>0.0155</fuelConsumptionInLiters>
      <deviationDistance>1735</deviationDistance>
      <deviationTime>127</deviationTime>
      <deviationPoint latitude="52.50904" longitude="13.42912"/>
    </summary>
    <leg>
      <summary>
        <lengthInMeters>108</lengthInMeters>
        <travelTimeInSeconds>11</travelTimeInSeconds>
        <trafficDelayInSeconds>0</trafficDelayInSeconds>
        <departureTime>2015-04-02T14:58:40+02:00</departureTime>
        <arrivalTime>2015-04-02T14:58:50+02:00</arrivalTime>
        <noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds>10</noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds>
        <historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds>11</historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds>
        <liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds>13</liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds>
        <fuelConsumptionInLiters>0.01</fuelConsumptionInLiters>
      </summary>
      <points>
        <point latitude="52.50931" longitude="13.42937"/>
        <point latitude="52.50904" longitude="13.42912"/>
  ...further points...
      </points>
    </leg>
  ...further legs...
    <sections>
      <section>
        <startPointIndex>0</startPointIndex>
        <endPointIndex>3</endPointIndex>
        <sectionType>TRAVEL_MODE</sectionType>
        <travelMode>other</travelMode>
      </section>
      <section>
        <startPointIndex>3</startPointIndex>
        <endPointIndex>7</endPointIndex>
        <sectionType>TRAVEL_MODE</sectionType>
        <travelMode>car</travelMode>
      </section>
      <section>
        <startPointIndex>2</startPointIndex>
        <endPointIndex>5</endPointIndex>
        <sectionType>TOLL_ROAD</sectionType>
      </section>
      <section>
        <startPointIndex>3</startPointIndex>
        <endPointIndex>4</endPointIndex>
        <sectionType>TUNNEL</sectionType>
      </section>
      <section>
        <startPointIndex>0</startPointIndex>
        <endPointIndex>1</endPointIndex>
        <sectionType>PEDESTRIAN</sectionType>
      </section>
      <section>
        <startPointIndex>3</startPointIndex>
        <endPointIndex>4</endPointIndex>
        <sectionType>TRAFFIC</sectionType>
        <simpleCategory>JAM</simpleCategory>
        <effectiveSpeedInKmh>40</effectiveSpeedInKmh>
        <delayInSeconds>158</delayInSeconds>
        <magnitudeOfDelay>1</magnitudeOfDelay>
        <tec>
          <effectCode>4</effectCode>
          <causes>
            <cause>
              <mainCauseCode>1</mainCauseCode>
            </cause>
            <cause>
              <mainCauseCode>26</mainCauseCode>
              <subCauseCode>2</subCauseCode>
            </cause>
          </causes>
        </tec>
      </section>
  ...further sections...
    </sections>
    <guidance>
      <instructions>
        <instruction>
          <routeOffsetInMeters>0</routeOffsetInMeters>
          <travelTimeInSeconds>0</travelTimeInSeconds>
          <point latitude="52.50931" longitude="13.42937"/>
          <instructionType>LOCATION_DEPARTURE</instructionType>
          <street>An der Schillingbrücke</street>
          <countryCode>DEU</countryCode>
          <possibleCombineWithNext>false</possibleCombineWithNext>
          <drivingSide>RIGHT</drivingSide>
          <maneuver>DEPART</maneuver>
          <message>Leave from An der Schillingbrücke</message>
        </instruction>
  ...further instructions...
      </instructions>
      <instructionGroups>
        <instructionGroup firstInstructionIndex="0" lastInstructionIndex="5">
          <groupLengthInMeters>4567</groupLengthInMeters>
          <groupMessage>Leave from An der Schillingbrücke and continue to A1/E35</groupMessage>
        </instructionGroup>
  ...further instruction groups...
      </instructionGroups>
    </guidance>
  </route>
  ...further routes...
  <optimizedWaypoints>
    <waypoint providedIndex="0" optimizedIndex="1"/>
    <waypoint providedIndex="1" optimizedIndex="0"/>
  ...further optimized waypoints...
  </optimizedWaypoints>
  <report>
    <effectiveSettings>
      <setting key="avoid" value="motorways"/>
      <setting key="computeBestOrder" value="true"/>
  ...further settings...
    </effectiveSettings>
  </report>
</calculateRouteResponse>

A JSON Response could look like this: (Note: Comments are in italics.)

{
  "formatVersion": "0.0.12",
  "routes": [
    {
      "summary": {
        "lengthInMeters": 1147,
        "travelTimeInSeconds": 157,
        "trafficDelayInSeconds": 0,
        "departureTime": "2015-04-02T15:01:57+02:00",
        "arrivalTime": "2015-04-02T15:04:34+02:00",
        "noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds": 120,
        "historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds": 157,
        "liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds": 161,
        "fuelConsumptionInLiters": 0.0155,
        "deviationDistance": 1735,
        "deviationTime": 127,
        "deviationPoint": {
          "latitude": 52.50904,
          "longitude": 13.42912
        }
      },
      "legs": [
        {
          "summary": {
            "lengthInMeters": 108,
            "travelTimeInSeconds": 11,
            "trafficDelayInSeconds": 0,
            "departureTime": "2015-04-02T15:01:57+02:00",
            "arrivalTime": "2015-04-02T15:02:07+02:00",
            "noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds": 10,
            "historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds": 11,
            "liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds": 13,
            "fuelConsumptionInLiters": 0.01
          },
          "points": [
            {
              "latitude": 52.50931,
              "longitude": 13.42937
            },
            {
              "latitude": 52.50904,
              "longitude": 13.42912
            },
  ...further points...
          ]
        },
  ...further legs...
      ],
      "sections": [
        {
          "startPointIndex": 0,
          "endPointIndex": 3,
          "sectionType": "TRAVEL_MODE"
          "travelMode": "other"
        },
        {
          "startPointIndex": 3,
          "endPointIndex": 7,
          "sectionType": "TRAVEL_MODE"
          "travelMode": "car"
        },
        {
          "startPointIndex": 2,
          "endPointIndex": 5,
          "sectionType": "TOLL_ROAD"
        },
        {
          "startPointIndex": 3,
          "endPointIndex": 4,
          "sectionType": "TUNNEL"
        },
        {
          "startPointIndex": 0,
          "endPointIndex": 1,
          "sectionType": "PEDESTRIAN"
        },
        {
          "startPointIndex": 3,
          "endPointIndex": 4,
          "sectionType": "TRAFFIC",
          "simpleCategory": "JAM",
          "effectiveSpeedInKmh": 40,
          "delayInSeconds": 158,
          "magnitudeOfDelay": 1,
          "tec": {
            "effectCode": 4,
            "causes": [
              {
                "mainCauseCode": 1
              },
              {
                "mainCauseCode": 26,
                "subCauseCode": 2
              }
            ]
          }
        },
  ...further sections...
      ],
      "guidance": {
        "instructions": [
          {
            "routeOffsetInMeters": 0,
            "travelTimeInSeconds": 0,
            "point": {
              "latitude": 52.50931,
              "longitude": 13.42937
            },
            "instructionType": "LOCATION_DEPARTURE",
            "street": "An der Schillingbrücke",
            "countryCode":"DEU",
            "possibleCombineWithNext": false,
            "drivingSide": "RIGHT",
            "maneuver": "DEPART",
            "message": "Leave from An der Schillingbrücke"
          },
  ...further instructions...
        ],
        "instructionGroups": [
          {
            "firstInstructionIndex": 0,
            "lastInstructionIndex": 5,
            "groupLengthInMeters": 4567,
            "groupMessage": "Leave from An der Schillingbrücke and continue to A1/E35"
          },
  ...further instruction groups...
        ]
      }
    }
  ...further routes...
  ],
  "optimizedWaypoints": [
    {
      "providedIndex": 0,
      "optimizedIndex": 1
    },
    {
      "providedIndex": 1,
      "optimizedIndex": 0
    }
  ...further optimized waypoints...
  ],
  "report": {
    "effectiveSettings": [
      {
        "key": "avoid",
        "value": "motorways"
      },
      {
        "key": "computeBestOrder",
        "value": "true"
      },
  ...further settings...
    ]
  }
}

Example of an error Response

If an error occurs, the Response contains the description of the error. The XML error Response would look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<calculateRouteResponse xmlns="http://api.tomtom.com/routing" formatVersion="0.0.12">
  <error description="Error description"/>
</calculateRouteResponse>

The equivalent JSON error Response would look like this:

{
  "formatVersion":"0.0.12",
  "error":{
    "description":"Error description"
  }
}

Special behaviour for content type jsonp (JSON with Padding)

When the contentType=jsonp, the returned HTTP status code is always OK (200).

  • This ensures that the jsonp callback will be invoked on the client side regardless of the outcome of the Request.
  • In order to provide the client with the actual status of the Request, a field called statusCode is added to the Response body.

Currently, the preceding statement is not true for certain types of errors (authentication errors, Request quota related errors, etc.).

  • For those errors the HTTP status code is returned as normal (400, 500, ...) and the Response content type is text/xml.
  • Note: This imperfection should not cause problems during normal use of the API.

Structure of a successful Response (XML elements)

XML field element Description
<calculateRouteResponse> The main response element.
<route> A description of a route comprised of a list of legs.
<summary> A summary of a route, or a route leg.
<leg> A description of a part of a route, comprised of a list of points. Each additional waypoint provided in the request will result in an additional leg in the returned route.
<points> A list of XML <point> elements.
<point> A location on the surface of the globe defined as a latitude longitude pair.
<sections> Available inside XML <route> elements.

  • Contains one or more XML <section> elements.
  • The inner structure of <section> is given below.
<startPointIndex> Index of the first point (offset 0) in the route this section applies to (only included for a routeRepresentation polyline).
<endPointIndex> Index of the last point (offset 0) in the route this section applies to (only included for a routeRepresentation polyline).
<countryCode> A 3-character ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code.
<simpleCategory> Type of the incident.

  • Can currently be JAM, ROAD_WORK, ROAD_CLOSURE, or OTHER.
  • See the <tec> element for detailed information.
<effectiveSpeedInKmh> The effective speed of the incident in km/h, averaged over its entire length.
<delayInSeconds> The delay in seconds caused by the incident.
<magnitudeOfDelay> The magnitude of delay caused by the incident.
Possible values:

  • 0: unknown
  • 1: minor
  • 2: moderate
  • 3: major
  • 4: undefined, used for road closures and other indefinite delays

These values correspond to the values of the Response field ty of the Online Traffic Incident Details.

<tec> Details of the traffic event.

  • It uses the definitions in the TPEG2-TEC standard.
  • It can contain the XML <effectCode> and <causes> elements.
<effectCode> The effect on the traffic flow.

  • Contains a value in the tec001:EffectCode table, as defined in the TPEG2-TEC standard.
  • Can be used to color-code traffic events according to severity.
<causes> A list of <cause> elements.
<cause> The cause of the traffic event.

  • It can contain XML <mainCauseCode> and <subCauseCode> elements.
  • It can be used to define iconography and descriptions.
<mainCauseCode> The main cause of the traffic event. Contains a value in the tec002:CauseCode table, as defined in the TPEG2-TEC standard.
<subCauseCode> The subcause of the traffic event. Contains a value in the sub cause table defined by the mainCauseCode, as defined in the TPEG2-TEC standard.
<lengthInMeters> The route or leg length in meters.
<travelTimeInSeconds> The estimated travel time in seconds. Note that even when traffic=false, travelTimeInSeconds still includes the delay due to traffic.
<trafficDelayInSeconds> The delay in seconds compared to free-flow conditions according to real-time traffic information.
<noTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds> The estimated travel time in seconds calculated as if there are no delays on the route due to traffic conditions (e.g., congestion). Included if requested using the computeTravelTimeFor parameter.
<historicTrafficTravelTimeInSeconds> The estimated travel time in seconds calculated using time-dependent historic traffic data. Included if requested using the computeTravelTimeFor parameter.
<liveTrafficIncidentsTravelTimeInSeconds> The estimated travel time in seconds calculated using real-time speed data. Included if requested using the computeTravelTimeFor parameter.
<deviationDistance> The distance (in meters) from the origin point of the calculateRoute Request to the first point where this route forks off from the reference route.

  • If the route is identical to the reference route, then this field is set to the length of the route.
  • Included in all alternative (but not reference) <route> <summary> fields.
<deviationTime> The travel time (in seconds) from the origin point of the <calculateRoute> Request to the first point where this route forks off from the reference route.

  • If the route is identical to the reference route, then this field is set to the estimated travel time of the route.
  • Included in all alternative (but not reference) <route> <summary> fields.
<deviationPoint> The coordinates of the first point following the origin point of the <calculateRoute> Request where this route forks off from the reference route.

  • If the route is identical to the reference route, then this field is set to the coordinates of the last point on the route.
  • Included in all alternative (but not reference) <route> <summary> fields.
<fuelConsumptionInLiters> The estimated fuel consumption in liters using the Combustion Consumption Model. Included if:

  • The vehicleEngineType is set to combustion.
  • The constantSpeedConsumptionInLitersPerHundredkm is specified.
  • The value will be non-negative (i.e., positive).
<batteryConsumptionInkWh> The estimated electric energy consumption in kilowatt hours (kWh) using the Electric Consumption Model.

  • Included if:

    • vehicleEngineType is set to electric.
    • constantSpeedConsumptionInkWhPerHundredkm is specified.
  • The value of batteryConsumptionInkWh includes the recuperated electric energy and can therefore be negative (which indicates gaining energy).
  • If both maxChargeInkWh and currentChargeInkWh are specified, recuperation will be capped to ensure that the battery charge level never exceeds maxChargeInkWh.
  • If neither maxChargeInkWh nor currentChargeInkWh are specified, unconstrained recuperation is assumed in the consumption calculation.
<optimizedWaypoints> An optimized sequence of waypoints.

  • It shows the index from the user provided waypoint sequence for the original and optimized list.
  • For instance, a Response:

    <optimizedWaypoints/>
  <waypoint providedIndex="0" optimizedIndex="1"/>
  <waypoint providedIndex="1" optimizedIndex="2"/>
  <waypoint providedIndex="2" optimizedIndex="0"/>
</optimizedWaypoints>

    means that the original sequence is [0, 1, 2] and optimized sequence is [1, 2, 0].

  • Since the index starts by 0 the original is "first, second, third", while the optimized is "second, third, first".
<waypoint> This is each element in the list of <optimizedWaypoints>. It contains the indices for that waypoint in the provided and optimized list.
<departureTime> The estimated departure time for the route or leg. Specified as a dateTime.
<arrivalTime> The estimated arrival time for the route or leg. Specified as a dateTime.
<guidance> This contains guidance related elements. This field is present only when guidance was requested and is available.
<instruction> A set of attributes describing a maneuver, e.g., "Turn right", "Keep left", "Take the ferry", "Take the motorway", "Arrive".
<instructionGroup> This groups a sequence of instruction elements which are related to each other.

  • The sequence range is constrained with firstInstructionIndex and lastInstructionIndex.
  • When human-readable text messages are requested for guidance (instructionType=text or tagged), then the instructionGroup has a summary message returned when available.
<effectiveSettings> The effective parameters or data used when calling the Calculate Route API.
<statusCode> The original HTTP status code as listed in the Response codes (note: included for content type jsonp only).

Structure of an instruction

Guidance instruction deprecation policy:

As part of the continuous improvement of the Routing API, we also extend our guidance instructions with new features.

In many cases, this requires the introduction of new maneuver codes for new types of instructions. Hence we cannot guarantee the same deprecation policy for guidance instructions as compared to the rest of the Routing API.

In particular, clients are expected to be forward compatible, and we reserve the right to extend all enums defined below with new values. This includes completely new maneuver codes for new types of instructions.

At the same time we reserve the right to retire enum values for instructions that are superseded by their improved counterparts no longer generated by the internal Guidance component. The same rules for forward-/backward-compatibility apply to fields for guidance instructions.

For the retirement of instructions that are no longer relevant, we give a deprecation period of 4 months. After this period we reserve the right to remove deprecated values at our convenience.

XML field element Description
<routeOffsetInMeters> The distance from the start of the route to the point of the instruction.
<travelTimeInSeconds> The estimated travel time up to the point corresponding to routeOffsetInMeters.
<point> A location of the maneuver defined as a latitude longitude pair. Example:

json xml 
"point":{
"latitude":52.36965,
"longitude":4.70208
}
 
<point latitude="52.36965" longitude="4.70208"/>
<instructionType> The type of instruction, e.g., a turn or a change of road form.
Possible values:

  • TURN
  • ROAD_CHANGE
  • LOCATION_DEPARTURE
  • LOCATION_ARRIVAL
  • DIRECTION_INFO
  • LOCATION_WAYPOINT
<roadNumbers> An aggregate for <roadNumber> elements. Example:

json xml 
"roadNumbers":["E34","N205"]
 
<roadNumbers>
  <roadNumber>E34</roadNumber>
  <roadNumber>N205</roadNumber>
</roadNumbers>
<roadNumber> The road number of the next significant road segment after the maneuver, or of the road that has to be followed.
<exitNumber> The number(s) of a highway exit taken by the current maneuver. If an exit has multiple exit numbers, they will be separated by "," and possibly aggregated by "-", e.g., "10, 13-15".
<street> The street name of the next significant road segment after the maneuver, or of the street that should be followed.
<signpostText> The text on a signpost which is most relevant to the maneuver, or to the direction that should be followed.
<countryCode> The 3-character ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code.
<stateCode> A subdivision (e.g., state) of the country, represented by the second part of an ISO 3166-2 code. This is only available for some countries like the US, Canada, and Mexico.
<junctionType> The type of the junction where the maneuver takes place. For larger roundabouts, two separate instructions are generated for entering and leaving the roundabout.
Possible values:

  • REGULAR
  • ROUNDABOUT
  • BIFURCATION
<turnAngleInDecimalDegrees> Indicates the direction of an instruction. If junctionType indicates a turn instruction:

  • -180 = U-turn
  • [-179, -1] = Left turn
  • 0 = Straight on (a '0 degree' turn)
  • [1, 179] = Right turn

If junctionType indicates a bifurcation instruction:

  • <0 - keep left
  • >0 - keep right
<roundaboutExitNumber> This indicates which exit to take at a roundabout.
<possibleCombineWithNext> It is possible to optionally combine the instruction with the next one. This can be used to build messages like "Turn left and then turn right".
Possible values:

  • true
  • false
<drivingSide> Indicates left-hand vs. right-hand side driving at the point of the maneuver.
Possible values:

  • LEFT
  • RIGHT
<maneuver> A code identifying the maneuver (e.g., "Turn right"). See the following Maneuver codes section.
<message> A human-readable message for the maneuver.
<combinedMessage> A human-readable message for the maneuver combined with the message from the next instruction. See the following "Example of a combined message" section.

Maneuver codes

The following table describes the possible values of the <maneuver> instruction field.

Maneuver value Example translation
ARRIVE You have arrived.
ARRIVE_LEFT You have arrived. Your destination is on the left.
ARRIVE_RIGHT You have arrived. Your destination is on the right.
DEPART Leave.
STRAIGHT Keep straight on.
KEEP_RIGHT Keep right.
BEAR_RIGHT Bear right.
TURN_RIGHT Turn right.
SHARP_RIGHT Turn sharp right.
KEEP_LEFT Keep left.
BEAR_LEFT Bear left.
TURN_LEFT Turn left.
SHARP_LEFT Turn sharp left.
MAKE_UTURN Make a U-turn.
ENTER_MOTORWAY Take the motorway.
ENTER_FREEWAY Take the freeway.
ENTER_HIGHWAY Take the highway.
TAKE_EXIT Take the exit.
MOTORWAY_EXIT_LEFT Take the left exit.
MOTORWAY_EXIT_RIGHT Take the right exit.
TAKE_FERRY Take the ferry.
ROUNDABOUT_CROSS Cross the roundabout.
ROUNDABOUT_RIGHT At the roundabout take the exit on the right.
ROUNDABOUT_LEFT At the roundabout take the exit on the left.
ROUNDABOUT_BACK Go around the roundabout.
TRY_MAKE_UTURN Try to make a U-turn.
FOLLOW Follow.
SWITCH_PARALLEL_ROAD Switch to the parallel road.
SWITCH_MAIN_ROAD Switch to the main road.
ENTRANCE_RAMP Take the ramp.
WAYPOINT_LEFT You have reached the waypoint. It is on the left.
WAYPOINT_RIGHT You have reached the waypoint. It is on the right.
WAYPOINT_REACHED You have reached the waypoint.

Example of a combined message

Sometimes it is possible to combine two successive instructions into a single instruction making it easier to follow. When this is the case the possibleCombineWithNext flag will be true. For example:

10. Turn left onto Einsteinweg/A10/E22 towards Ring Amsterdam
11. Follow Einsteinweg/A10/E22 towards Ring Amsterdam

The possibleCombineWithNext flag on instruction 10 is true. This indicates to the clients of coded guidance that it can be combined with instruction 11. The instructions will be combined automatically for clients requesting human-readable guidance. The combinedMessage field contains the combined message:

Turn left onto Einsteinweg/A10/E22 towards Ring Amsterdam then follow Einsteinweg/A10/E22 towards Ring Amsterdam.

Tagged messages

A human-readable message is built up from repeatable identified elements. These are tagged to allow client applications to format them correctly. The following message components are tagged when instructionsType=tagged:

Message component Tag
Street or road name street
Road number roadNumber
Signpost text signpostText
Exit number - motorway exitNumber
Exit number - roundabout roundaboutExitNumber

Examples of tagged messages

Turn left message

Turn left onto <roadNumber>A4</roadNumber>/<roadNumber>E19</roadNumber> towards <signpostText>Den Haag</signpostText>

Take exit message

Take exit no. <exitNumber>1</exitNumber> onto <street>Anderlechtlaan</street> towards <signpostText>Amsterdam-Sloten</signpostText>

Follow message

Follow <street>Rijksweg A9</street>/<roadNumber>A9</roadNumber> towards <signpostText>Amstelveen</signpostText>

Structure of route sections

Field Description
<section> Sections contain additional information about parts of a route. Each <section> contains at least the elements <startPointIndex>, <endPointIndex>, and <sectionType>.
<sectionType> Contains the Response section type.

Request section type Response section type
carTrain CAR_TRAIN
country COUNTRY
ferry FERRY
motorway MOTORWAY
pedestrian PEDESTRIAN
tollRoad TOLL_ROAD
tollVignette TOLL_VIGNETTE
traffic TRAFFIC
travelMode TRAVEL_MODE
tunnel TUNNEL

The COUNTRY sections span between country border crossings, from the departure, or to the destination. The section additionally contains <countryCode>. If the route has disjoint parts in the same country, there will be several sections with the same <countryCode>. If no country can be assigned to a part of the route, as for example in international waters, there may be no country section for this part.

A TOLL_VIGNETTE section additionally contains a <countryCode> since toll vignettes are often specific to a country.

A TRAFFIC section may additionally contain any of the following: <simpleCategory>, <effectiveSpeedInKmh>, <delayInSeconds>, <magnitudeOfDelay>, <tec>.

TRAVEL_MODE sections cover the whole route. Each section's travel mode is reported in <travelMode>.
<travelMode> This attribute is either set to the value given to the request parameter travelMode, if this travel mode is possible, or to other which indicates that the given mode of transport is not possible in this section. This field can only be used within sections of type TRAVEL_MODE.

Structure of an error Response

Field Description
<calculateRouteResponse> The main Response element.
<error> Contains an error description field with a human readable error message.

  • It is a freeform string which may be extended in the future, so it is recommended to only match substrings of the description.
  • The error description field always contains an error code.

The (non-complete) list of error codes is:

Error code Description
MAP_MATCHING_FAILURE One of the input points (Origin, Destination, Waypoints) could not be matched to the map because there is no known drivable section near this point. This error code is always followed by a description of one point that was not matchable:

  • Origin (Latitude, Longitude)
  • Destination (Latitude, Longitude)
  • Waypoint N (Latitude, Longitude)
NO_ROUTE_FOUND The was no valid route found.
CANNOT_RESTORE_BASEROUTE The route reconstruction using supportingPoints failed.
BAD_INPUT Some input parameter combination was not valid.

Example of a description string:

Engine error while executing route request: MAP_MATCHING_FAILURE: Origin (54.3226, 3.11463)
Engine error while executing route request: MAP_MATCHING_FAILURE: Origin (54.3226, 3.11463)
Engine error while executing route request: MAP_MATCHING_FAILURE: Waypoint 3 (54.3226, 3.11463)
<statusCode> The original HTTP status code as listed in Response Codes (included for content type jsonp only).

Supported languages

Language name Language tag
Afrikaans (South Africa) af-ZA
Arabic ar
Bulgarian bg-BG
Chinese (Taiwan) zh-TW
Czech cs-CZ
Danish da-DK
Dutch nl-NL
English (Great Britain) en-GB
English (USA) en-US
Finnish fi-FI
French fr-FR
German de-DE
Greek el-GR
Hungarian hu-HU
Indonesian id-ID
Italian it-IT
Korean ko-KR
Lithuanian lt-LT
Malay ms-MY
Norwegian nb-NO
Polish pl-PL
Portuguese (Brazil) pt-BR
Portuguese (Portugal) pt-PT
Russian ru-RU
Slovak sk-SK
Slovenian sl-SI
Spanish (Castilian) es-ES
Spanish (Mexico) es-MX
Swedish sv-SE
Thai th-TH
Turkish tr-TR

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