WhichRoutingService

Introduction

So now, with OSMBonusPack, you have simple access to 3 routing services:

• OSRM
• GraphHopper
• MapQuest

And you can switch between those routing services, by just calling the right RoadManager. But choosing the right routing service may not be so simple. You will find here some elements to help you in this choice.

Common strengths

They all provide:

• Worldwide coverage
• Waypoints support
• Route instructions
• Fresh OSM data
• Support for car, bicycle and pedestrian profiles

Not surprisingly, they are the 3 routing services chosen by the official OpenStreetMap web site for providing directions.

Performance

On a 350km trip (in France, Rennes-Paris), the duration of an end-to-end route retrieval (including full parsing of server response) is, on an average of 5 requests:

• With MapQuest Open API: 6 seconds (5s min, 7s max)
• With Google Directions API: 1.6s (1.5s min, 1.9s max)
• With OSRM demo service: 0.8s (0.4s min, 1.2s max)
• With GraphHopper service: not measured yet, but seems similar to OSRM

Yes, OSRM and GraphHopper are really fast!

OSRM

Issues:

• Some start/end points "in the green" will lead to no-route answer
• The instructions coding is a little bit complicated.

Pros: support for alternate routes.

GraphHopper

Issues:

• API Key to request to use the public service (request online. Free-package available for development and non-commercial projects)
• The set of available directions is a little bit short.

Pros:

• Ability to provide altitude

MapQuest

Issues:

• Quite slow compared with others
• Route is ending "one node too far". This is probably intentional, to give indications if the driver went too far. But not easy to hide.
• API Key to request (but free, and quite easy to obtain)