Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
1–10 of 54 posts
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#2I used to wonder how companies like TomTom stay in business, given how big products like Google Maps have become. More recently I've seen some media that showed off one of those stand-alone GPS devices (I don't remember which brand, but likely TomTom or Garmin), and I was blown away at how far they've come in capabilities and user interface. (I'm sure it's not just that, looks like they've got a lot of other products like car in-dash navigation.)
They also tend to have features that aren't available on Google Maps, like being able to avoid roads that might not be doable with certain vehicles/tows.
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#3I used to wonder how companies like TomTom stay in business, given how big products like Google Maps have become. More recently I've seen some media that showed off one of those stand-alone GPS devices (I don't remember which brand, but likely TomTom or Garmin), and I was blown away at how far they've come in capabilities and user interface. (I'm sure it's not just that, looks like they've got a lot of other products…
Yeah, the company has moved further from the consumer market (the devices you talk about), and is now looking much more at B2B markets, providing maps, traffic, routing etc to car companies for their integrated systems. Somewhere on its website it also talks a lot about enterprise so ride hailing services stuff like that.
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#4I used to wonder how companies like TomTom stay in business, given how big products like Google Maps have become. More recently I've seen some media that showed off one of those stand-alone GPS devices (I don't remember which brand, but likely TomTom or Garmin), and I was blown away at how far they've come in capabilities and user interface. (I'm sure it's not just that, looks like they've got a lot of other products…
Routing is a pretty deep problem. I don't know whether Google actually puts all that much effort into it. For example I prefer to use bbbike.de for cycling routes in my area because it usually provides better routes than Google, even though it's maintained by just one person.
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#5I'm surprised how bad Google Maps still is at things like this. No I don't want to take the theoretically slightly shorter road through several small neighborhood roads, let me simply follow the main road. Taking intersections into account it's often not even really faster in practice.
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#6I'm using OsmAnd for cycling and walking and it works much better than google maps. It uses OpenStreetMaps + some other sources, and takes elevation into account when in cycling mode which is a big thing.
But the route recording and prediction of time could still be a lot better.
EDIT: actually I've never checked but it's open source - so I might fix my pet peeves (cutting corners in route recording for example).
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#7I'd love to have knobs "how experienced driver I am" and "how familiar am I with the area" (this one can even be automatic, given the amount of data map app makers collect!) for the map apps.
If I'm in an unfamiliar area, I really don't want to theoretically save a few seconds by taking a shortcut via little maze of twisty passages, all different. Just give me a straightforward route using a highway, please.
(edit: typos)
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#8I'd love to have knobs "how experienced driver I am" and "how familiar am I with the area" (this one can even be automatic, given the amount of data map app makers collect!) for the map apps. If I'm in an unfamiliar area, I really don't want to theoretically save a few seconds by taking a shortcut via little maze of twisty passages, all different. Just give me a straightforward route using a highway, please. (edit: t…
I think this may already exist?
My car's built-in navigation presents me with the most straightforward route by default, and shows me options when they approach. If I take one of those options, it has a personalisation setting that will prefer that option the next time.
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#9I'd love to have knobs "how experienced driver I am" and "how familiar am I with the area" (this one can even be automatic, given the amount of data map app makers collect!) for the map apps. If I'm in an unfamiliar area, I really don't want to theoretically save a few seconds by taking a shortcut via little maze of twisty passages, all different. Just give me a straightforward route using a highway, please. (edit: t…
This, but for biking and without a knob.
Make an econometric model of my previous recorded routes with explaining variables: elevation, distance driven already, time driven already, time of day, temperature, road quality, wind direction, rain and explained variable: speed for the next kilometer.
Predict my speed on potential routes based on that.
Calculate routes taking these predictions into account.
Re: Why routing alogrithms from different maps don't always give the same route
#10I'd love to have knobs "how experienced driver I am" and "how familiar am I with the area" (this one can even be automatic, given the amount of data map app makers collect!) for the map apps. If I'm in an unfamiliar area, I really don't want to theoretically save a few seconds by taking a shortcut via little maze of twisty passages, all different. Just give me a straightforward route using a highway, please. (edit: t…
This, but for biking and without a knob. Make an econometric model of my previous recorded routes with explaining variables: elevation, distance driven already, time driven already, time of day, temperature, road quality, wind direction, rain and explained variable: speed for the next kilometer. Predict my speed on potential routes based on that. Calculate routes taking these predictions into account.
brouter.de is amazingly customisable for bike routing.
The trade-off for customisation/personalisation is slower calculation times. Most fast routing algorithms work by precalculating the best routes, which obviously doesn’t scale if everyone has their own “best”.
(I run cycle.travel, which prioritises one good, opinionated routing model over customisation.)