A new release of Geopointe is going out today that upgrades our Google integration to the latest version of their mapping APIs. With this upgrade comes our ability to offer Optimized Routing via Google. The functionality works just as it does in our MapQuest upgrade we did earlier this year.
Optimized Routing allows a user to put together a list of locations to go and then ask the Directions service to sequence the route in the most appropriate order. Here’s an example…
Standard Routing
Below is a standard (i.e. not optimized) route put together in the sequence I specifically set when building my route list.
Optimized Route
In the route options, I can choose the Optimized flag and click Get Route. This will ask the service for an Optimized route for these points.
The important thing to remember is that an optimized route requests assumes your start and end locations should remain constant. Only the middle set of points are optimized. Thus, you need at least 4 locations to actually have the service optimize the route.
After re-generating the route, we have those same points presented in the optimal order.
More to Come
Upgrading to the latest Google APIs gives us a lot more flexibility in the services we can offer. Our roadmap is full of exciting things and development should pickup going forward. Stay tuned!
