[pgrouting-dev] Routing instructions/Nav directions on pgRouting

Paulo_Figueiras · November 28, 2013, 11:43am

Greetings.

I am a portuguese developer and I just started using pgRouting as my routing engine. I chose it because it is very flexible and scalable, and it is based on a relational database.

This offers me other types of functionalities that normal routing engines don’t.

Even so, I need a higher-level functionality, namely route instructions or navigation directions, that pgRouting does not provide for now (I think).

I read some forum posts from people that had the same problem as me. Some of them are really old (more than 2 years). I found two ways of doing that:

One way is to implement a instruction algorithm, such as the one described here: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/pgrouting-users/2011-January/000537.html
The other way is to have an external service to do that, such as, http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Marble/RoutingInstructions

Now, my question is that neither one of the approaches to having navigation directions from a pgRouting route is optimized or well documented.

Are there any new alternatives to these two approaches? If not, is there a more developed solution to the route instructions issue (commonly called Driving Directions issue) ?

Thanks in advance for your help. Cheers,

–

Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt>

	UNINOVA, Centre of Technology and Systems Campus da Caparica, Quinta da Torre 2829-516 Monte Caparica, PORTUGAL

Phone: (+351) 212948312 | Fax: (+351) 212957786 | Website: http://www.uninova.pt/

dkastl · November 28, 2013, 12:53pm

On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 8:43 PM, Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt> wrote:

Greetings.

I am a portuguese developer and I just started using pgRouting as my
routing engine. I chose it because it is very flexible and scalable, and it
is based on a relational database.

This offers me other types of functionalities that normal routing engines
don't.

Even so, I need a higher-level functionality, namely route instructions or
navigation directions, that pgRouting does not provide for now (I think).

I read some forum posts from people that had the same problem as me. Some
of them are really old (more than 2 years). I found two ways of doing that:

- One way is to implement a instruction algorithm, such as the one
described here:
http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/pgrouting-users/2011-January/000537.html

- The other way is to have an external service to do that, such as,
http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Marble/RoutingInstructions

Now, my question is that neither one of the approaches to having
navigation directions from a pgRouting route is optimized or well
documented.

Are there any new alternatives to these two approaches? If not, is there a
more developed solution to the route instructions issue (commonly called
Driving Directions issue) ?

Hi Paulo,

As you have already said, this question came up quite a few times already.
I think the reason, why there is no out-of-the-box solution yet, is, that
it is very difficult (probably impossible) to provide this kind of driving
instructions in a way that it works for any (road) network.
And beside the variety of data there are also lots of languages.

If you (or someone else) is able to draft a concept how to produce driving
directions in a smart way, that it does not depend on a specific dataset or
language, then such a functionality would be a valuable contribution ...
which might even attract some funding

Regards,
Daniel

--
Georepublic UG & Georepublic Japan
eMail: daniel.kastl@georepublic.de
Web: http://georepublic.de

Paulo_Figueiras · November 28, 2013, 2:42pm

Hello, Daniel.

Thank you for your quick reply. Well, for now I wouldn’t want to enrol myself in such an endeavor . I would prefer to use something that is already done, even if it is much simpler than other routing engines’ driving instructions.
I was reading one thread of your mailing list where you guys talk about the solution presented by Stephen Woodbridge, using iMapTools, and I was wondering if Stephen’s algorithm is accessible for use, or if it is a private solution.

Do you know anything about this subject? Thank you very much.

Regards,

Paulo.

···

2013/11/28 Daniel Kastl <daniel@georepublic.de>

pgrouting-dev mailing list
pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev

–

Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt>

	UNINOVA, Centre of Technology and Systems Campus da Caparica, Quinta da Torre 2829-516 Monte Caparica, PORTUGAL

Phone: (+351) 212948312 | Fax: (+351) 212957786 | Website: http://www.uninova.pt/

On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 8:43 PM, Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt> wrote:

Greetings.

I am a portuguese developer and I just started using pgRouting as my routing engine. I chose it because it is very flexible and scalable, and it is based on a relational database.

This offers me other types of functionalities that normal routing engines don’t.

Even so, I need a higher-level functionality, namely route instructions or navigation directions, that pgRouting does not provide for now (I think).

I read some forum posts from people that had the same problem as me. Some of them are really old (more than 2 years). I found two ways of doing that:

One way is to implement a instruction algorithm, such as the one described here: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/pgrouting-users/2011-January/000537.html

The other way is to have an external service to do that, such as, http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Marble/RoutingInstructions

Now, my question is that neither one of the approaches to having navigation directions from a pgRouting route is optimized or well documented.

Are there any new alternatives to these two approaches? If not, is there a more developed solution to the route instructions issue (commonly called Driving Directions issue) ?

Hi Paulo,

As you have already said, this question came up quite a few times already.
I think the reason, why there is no out-of-the-box solution yet, is, that it is very difficult (probably impossible) to provide this kind of driving instructions in a way that it works for any (road) network.
And beside the variety of data there are also lots of languages.

If you (or someone else) is able to draft a concept how to produce driving directions in a smart way, that it does not depend on a specific dataset or language, then such a functionality would be a valuable contribution … which might even attract some funding

Regards,
Daniel

–
Georepublic UG & Georepublic Japan
eMail: daniel.kastl@georepublic.de
Web: http://georepublic.de

Stephen_Woodbridge1 · November 28, 2013, 2:56pm

Hi Paulo,

Sorry, the implementation that I have is was developed for a specific client and is very much tied to their data and table structure and I am not allow to distribute it.

I have written up how to do this on a wiki page here:
https://github.com/pgRouting/pgrouting/wiki/Driving-Direction-Instructions

-Steve

On 11/28/2013 9:42 AM, Paulo Figueiras wrote:

Hello, Daniel.

Thank you for your quick reply. Well, for now I wouldn't want to enrol
myself in such an endeavor . I would prefer to use something that is
already done, even if it is much simpler than other routing engines'
driving instructions.
I was reading one thread of your mailing list where you guys talk about
the solution presented by Stephen Woodbridge, using iMapTools, and I was
wondering if Stephen's algorithm is accessible for use, or if it is a
private solution.

Do you know anything about this subject? Thank you very much.

Regards,

Paulo.

2013/11/28 Daniel Kastl <daniel@georepublic.de
<mailto:daniel@georepublic.de>>

    On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 8:43 PM, Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt
    <mailto:paf@uninova.pt>> wrote:

        Greetings.

        I am a portuguese developer and I just started using pgRouting
        as my routing engine. I chose it because it is very flexible and
        scalable, and it is based on a relational database.

        This offers me other types of functionalities that normal
        routing engines don't.

        Even so, I need a higher-level functionality, namely route
        instructions or navigation directions, that pgRouting does not
        provide for now (I think).

        I read some forum posts from people that had the same problem as
        me. Some of them are really old (more than 2 years). I found two
        ways of doing that:

            - One way is to implement a instruction algorithm, such as
        the one described here:
        http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/pgrouting-users/2011-January/000537.html

            - The other way is to have an external service to do that,
        such as, http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Marble/RoutingInstructions

        Now, my question is that neither one of the approaches to having
        navigation directions from a pgRouting route is optimized or
        well documented.

        Are there any new alternatives to these two approaches? If not,
        is there a more developed solution to the route instructions
        issue (commonly called Driving Directions issue) ?

    Hi Paulo,

    As you have already said, this question came up quite a few times
    already.
    I think the reason, why there is no out-of-the-box solution yet, is,
    that it is very difficult (probably impossible) to provide this kind
    of driving instructions in a way that it works for any (road) network.
    And beside the variety of data there are also lots of languages.

    If you (or someone else) is able to draft a concept how to produce
    driving directions in a smart way, that it does not depend on a
    specific dataset or language, then such a functionality would be a
    valuable contribution ... which might even attract some funding

    Regards,
    Daniel

    --
    Georepublic UG & Georepublic Japan
    eMail: daniel.kastl@georepublic.de <mailto:daniel.kastl@georepublic.de>
    Web: http://georepublic.de/>

    _______________________________________________
    pgrouting-dev mailing list
    pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org <mailto:pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org>
    http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev

--

Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt <mailto:%3Crddc@uninova.pt>>____

cid:image002.jpg@01C8AEC7.2F6E45A0 <http://www.uninova.pt/>\_\_\_\_

__ __

UNINOVA, Centre of Technology and Systems
Campus da Caparica, Quinta da Torre
2829-516 Monte Caparica, PORTUGAL____

Phone: (+351) 212948312 | Fax: (+351) 212957786 | Website:
http://www.uninova.pt/

_______________________________________________
pgrouting-dev mailing list
pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev

Paulo_Figueiras · November 28, 2013, 4:14pm

Hello, Stephen.

It was a wild shot, but I was already expecting that. I already saw the wiki page.

Well, thanks anyway, and I’ll keep working on this. Maybe I will have to do a driving directions procedure myself If I manage to do something nice, I’ll share it with the guys in the mailing list.

Thanks again, Stephen, Daniel.

Regards,

···

2013/11/28 Stephen Woodbridge <woodbri@swoodbridge.com>

Hi Paulo,

Sorry, the implementation that I have is was developed for a specific client and is very much tied to their data and table structure and I am not allow to distribute it.

I have written up how to do this on a wiki page here:
https://github.com/pgRouting/pgrouting/wiki/Driving-Direction-Instructions

-Steve

On 11/28/2013 9:42 AM, Paulo Figueiras wrote:

Hello, Daniel.

Thank you for your quick reply. Well, for now I wouldn’t want to enrol
myself in such an endeavor . I would prefer to use something that is
already done, even if it is much simpler than other routing engines’
driving instructions.
I was reading one thread of your mailing list where you guys talk about
the solution presented by Stephen Woodbridge, using iMapTools, and I was
wondering if Stephen’s algorithm is accessible for use, or if it is a
private solution.

Do you know anything about this subject? Thank you very much.

Regards,

Paulo.

2013/11/28 Daniel Kastl <daniel@georepublic.de

mailto:[daniel@georepublic.de](mailto:daniel@georepublic.de)>

On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 8:43 PM, Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt

mailto:[paf@uninova.pt](mailto:paf@uninova.pt)> wrote:

Greetings.

I am a portuguese developer and I just started using pgRouting
as my routing engine. I chose it because it is very flexible and
scalable, and it is based on a relational database.

This offers me other types of functionalities that normal
routing engines don’t.

Even so, I need a higher-level functionality, namely route
instructions or navigation directions, that pgRouting does not
provide for now (I think).

I read some forum posts from people that had the same problem as
me. Some of them are really old (more than 2 years). I found two
ways of doing that:

One way is to implement a instruction algorithm, such as
the one described here:
http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/pgrouting-users/2011-January/000537.html

The other way is to have an external service to do that,
such as, http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Marble/RoutingInstructions

Now, my question is that neither one of the approaches to having
navigation directions from a pgRouting route is optimized or
well documented.

Are there any new alternatives to these two approaches? If not,
is there a more developed solution to the route instructions
issue (commonly called Driving Directions issue) ?

Hi Paulo,

As you have already said, this question came up quite a few times
already.
I think the reason, why there is no out-of-the-box solution yet, is,
that it is very difficult (probably impossible) to provide this kind
of driving instructions in a way that it works for any (road) network.
And beside the variety of data there are also lots of languages.

If you (or someone else) is able to draft a concept how to produce
driving directions in a smart way, that it does not depend on a
specific dataset or language, then such a functionality would be a
valuable contribution … which might even attract some funding

Regards,
Daniel

–
Georepublic UG & Georepublic Japan

eMail: daniel.kastl@georepublic.de mailto:[daniel.kastl@georepublic.de](mailto:daniel.kastl@georepublic.de)
Web: http://georepublic.de <http://georepublic.de/>

pgrouting-dev mailing list
pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org mailto:[pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org](mailto:pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org)
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev

–

Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt mailto:%[3Crddc@uninova.pt](mailto:3Crddc@uninova.pt)>____

cid:image002.jpg@01C8AEC7.2F6E45A0 <http://www.uninova.pt/>____

UNINOVA, Centre of Technology and Systems
Campus da Caparica, Quinta da Torre

2829-516 Monte Caparica, PORTUGAL____

Phone: (+351) 212948312 | Fax: (+351) 212957786 | Website:
http://www.uninova.pt/

pgrouting-dev mailing list
pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev

pgrouting-dev mailing list
pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev

–

Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt>

	UNINOVA, Centre of Technology and Systems Campus da Caparica, Quinta da Torre 2829-516 Monte Caparica, PORTUGAL

Phone: (+351) 212948312 | Fax: (+351) 212957786 | Website: http://www.uninova.pt/

Stephen_Woodbridge1 · November 28, 2013, 4:26pm

On 11/28/2013 11:14 AM, Paulo Figueiras wrote:

Hello, Stephen.

It was a wild shot, but I was already expecting that. I already saw the
wiki page.

Well, thanks anyway, and I'll keep working on this. Maybe I will have to
do a driving directions procedure myself If I manage to do something
nice, I'll share it with the guys in the mailing list.

I'm will to work with you to add something generic to pgRouting, I just don't have time to do 100% of it myself. The coding part is not too hard once you have worked out a design, and then the documentation and test cases take a lot of time.

If you have questions feel free to ask.

-Steve

Thanks again, Stephen, Daniel.

Regards,

2013/11/28 Stephen Woodbridge <woodbri@swoodbridge.com
<mailto:woodbri@swoodbridge.com>>

    Hi Paulo,

    Sorry, the implementation that I have is was developed for a
    specific client and is very much tied to their data and table
    structure and I am not allow to distribute it.

    I have written up how to do this on a wiki page here:
    https://github.com/pgRouting/__pgrouting/wiki/Driving-__Direction-Instructions
    <https://github.com/pgRouting/pgrouting/wiki/Driving-Direction-Instructions>

    -Steve

    On 11/28/2013 9:42 AM, Paulo Figueiras wrote:

        Hello, Daniel.

        Thank you for your quick reply. Well, for now I wouldn't want to
        enrol
        myself in such an endeavor . I would prefer to use something
        that is
        already done, even if it is much simpler than other routing engines'
        driving instructions.
        I was reading one thread of your mailing list where you guys
        talk about
        the solution presented by Stephen Woodbridge, using iMapTools,
        and I was
        wondering if Stephen's algorithm is accessible for use, or if it
        is a
        private solution.

        Do you know anything about this subject? Thank you very much.

        Regards,

        Paulo.

        2013/11/28 Daniel Kastl <daniel@georepublic.de
        <mailto:daniel@georepublic.de>
        <mailto:daniel@georepublic.de>__>

             On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 8:43 PM, Paulo Figueiras
        <paf@uninova.pt <mailto:paf@uninova.pt>
             <mailto:paf@uninova.pt>> wrote:

                 Greetings.

                 I am a portuguese developer and I just started using
        pgRouting
                 as my routing engine. I chose it because it is very
        flexible and
                 scalable, and it is based on a relational database.

                 This offers me other types of functionalities that normal
                 routing engines don't.

                 Even so, I need a higher-level functionality, namely route
                 instructions or navigation directions, that pgRouting
        does not
                 provide for now (I think).

                 I read some forum posts from people that had the same
        problem as
                 me. Some of them are really old (more than 2 years). I
        found two
                 ways of doing that:

                     - One way is to implement a instruction algorithm,
        such as
                 the one described here:
        http://lists.osgeo.org/__pipermail/pgrouting-users/__2011-January/000537.html
        <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/pgrouting-users/2011-January/000537.html>

                     - The other way is to have an external service to
        do that,
                 such as,
        http://techbase.kde.org/__Projects/Marble/__RoutingInstructions
        <http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Marble/RoutingInstructions>

                 Now, my question is that neither one of the approaches
        to having
                 navigation directions from a pgRouting route is
        optimized or
                 well documented.

                 Are there any new alternatives to these two approaches?
        If not,
                 is there a more developed solution to the route
        instructions
                 issue (commonly called Driving Directions issue) ?

             Hi Paulo,

             As you have already said, this question came up quite a few
        times
             already.
             I think the reason, why there is no out-of-the-box solution
        yet, is,
             that it is very difficult (probably impossible) to provide
        this kind
             of driving instructions in a way that it works for any
        (road) network.
             And beside the variety of data there are also lots of
        languages.

             If you (or someone else) is able to draft a concept how to
        produce
             driving directions in a smart way, that it does not depend on a
             specific dataset or language, then such a functionality
        would be a
             valuable contribution ... which might even attract some
        funding

             Regards,
             Daniel

             --
             Georepublic UG & Georepublic Japan
             eMail: daniel.kastl@georepublic.de
        <mailto:daniel.kastl@georepublic.de>
        <mailto:daniel.kastl@__georepublic.de
        <mailto:daniel.kastl@georepublic.de>>
             Web: http://georepublic.de/>

             _________________________________________________
             pgrouting-dev mailing list
        pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org
        <mailto:pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org>
        <mailto:pgrouting-dev@lists.__osgeo.org
        <mailto:pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org>>
        http://lists.osgeo.org/__mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev
        <http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev>

        --

        Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt <mailto:paf@uninova.pt>
        <mailto:%3Crddc@uninova.pt <mailto:3Crddc@uninova.pt>>>______

        cid:image002.jpg@01C8AEC7.__2F6E45A0 <http://www.uninova.pt/>\_\_\_\_

        __ __

        UNINOVA, Centre of Technology and Systems
        Campus da Caparica, Quinta da Torre
        2829-516 Monte Caparica, PORTUGAL____

        Phone: (+351) 212948312 <tel:%28%2B351%29%20212948312> | Fax:
        (+351) 212957786 <tel:%28%2B351%29%20212957786> | Website:
        http://www.uninova.pt/

        _________________________________________________
        pgrouting-dev mailing list
        pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org <mailto:pgrouting-dev@lists.osgeo.org>
        http://lists.osgeo.org/__mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev
        <http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev>

    _________________________________________________
    pgrouting-dev mailing list
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    http://lists.osgeo.org/__mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev
    <http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev>

--

Paulo Figueiras <paf@uninova.pt <mailto:%3Crddc@uninova.pt>>____

cid:image002.jpg@01C8AEC7.2F6E45A0 <http://www.uninova.pt/>\_\_\_\_

__ __

UNINOVA, Centre of Technology and Systems
Campus da Caparica, Quinta da Torre
2829-516 Monte Caparica, PORTUGAL____

Phone: (+351) 212948312 | Fax: (+351) 212957786 | Website:
http://www.uninova.pt/

_______________________________________________
pgrouting-dev mailing list
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http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/pgrouting-dev