Using the maps service

For models that involve routing and thus require maps data, a maps service is part of the Timefold Platform.

The maps service supports integrations with maps providers to calculate distance and travel matrices. These matrices are used to calculate the distance between locations and optimize their routes accordingly.

Features of the maps service

In addition to making travel times and distances available, the maps service adds the following features:

  • Pre-calculation and caching of matrices, to avoid calculating matrices on the fly while solving.

  • Incremental updates, to avoid recalculating matrices every time they are used and only download updates to the matrix instead of the entire matrix.

  • Throttling based on the capacity of each maps provider, to avoid overloading the provider with requests.

  • Concurrency guarding, to prevent similar requests to the same provider from being done simultaneously.

Distance and travel matrices

The maps service is used to calculate a distance matrix and a travel matrix for a list of locations.

  • The distance matrix is used to calculate the distance between two locations.

  • The travel matrix is used to calculate the travel time between two locations.

Each matrix is a 2D array of size n * n, where n is the number of locations in the list.

The matrices are calculated by sending requests to the maps provider with the coordinates of the locations. The request is done during the "Started" phase of a dataset (SOLVING_STARTED).

Available map providers

The maps service supports the following map providers:

  • haversine: calculates the matrices using the Haversine formula.

  • osrm: calculates the matrices using an OSRM service for a specific location.

If you’re using the Timefold Cloud Platform, the map provider and map location are configured via Configuration parameters and profiles. In this case, it’s possible to configure your own external provider via the platform API.

If you’re using the Self-Hosted version, you can define the map provider in the helm properties for self-hosted installations. You can define an external maps provider or use your own OSRM service.

For users with a Trial tenant plan, only the map provider haversine is available.

Available maps

In the Timefold Cloud Platform UI, you can create a configuration profile and choose a maps provider (e.g. OSRM) to see a full list of available maps.

Not all map locations are loaded by default. If you want to use a map that is currently not available, you can contact us.

Automatic map selection

Choose "Auto-select" as "Maps location" and the maps service automatically selects the most suitable vehicle map based on the coordinates provided in the dataset input.

All coordinates (for example, vehicle start locations and visit locations) are evaluated and matched against the available map regions (see below). From the regions that fully cover all coordinates, the service selects the smallest possible map.

The selected map is determined once per problem and remains fixed for the entire optimization run.

Automatic map selection provides the following advantages:

  • Reduced configuration overhead: You no longer need to create and maintain multiple configuration profiles for different geographic regions.

  • Improved performance: Smaller maps lead to faster distance matrix calculations and typically shorter solver runtimes.

  • Safer defaults: The maps service always selects the most appropriate map based on the provided coordinates.

We strongly recommend using automatic map selection as the default setting.

If no map is found that fully covers all provided locations, the maps service falls back to selecting the map that covers the highest number of locations. The request only fails if none of the available maps cover any of the provided coordinates, in which case the service responds with a clear error message.

Vehicle maps

The available maps for typical vehicle traffic include (but are not limited to):

Map Description

Australia

This is the OSRM map for the country of Australia.

Belgium

This is the OSRM map for the country of Belgium.

Benelux-Germany

This is the OSRM map for the Benelux region and Germany, covering the countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany.

Canada

This is the OSRM map for the country of Canada.

Dach

This is the OSRM map for the DACH region, covering the countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Mexico

This is the OSRM map for the country of Mexico.

Netherlands

This is the OSRM map for the country of Netherlands.

Ontario

This is the OSRM map for the region of Ontario in Canada.

Sweden

This is the OSRM map for the country of Sweden.

UK

This is the OSRM map for the country of the United Kingdom.

US

This is the OSRM map for the United States.

US Georgia

This is the OSRM map for the state of Georgia in the United States.

US Midwest

This is the OSRM map for the Midwest region of the United States, covering the states Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ,Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

US Northeast

This is the OSRM map for the North-east region of the United States, covering the states Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

US Pacific

This is the OSRM map for the Pacific region of the United States, covering the states Hawaii and Alaska.

US South

This is the OSRM map for the Southern region of the United States, covering the states Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, and West Virginia.

US West

This is the OSRM map for the Western region of the United States, covering the states Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Bicycle maps

The available maps for bicycle traffic include:

Map Description

US Georgia

This is the bicycle map OSRM map for the state of Georgia in the United States.
If your region is included in multiple available maps, using the smallest fitting region will speed up the solving process.

Implementing an external map provider

It’s possible to create an external map provider and configure the platform to use it.

The map provider must implement two endpoints:

  • POST /v1/travelDistanceMatrix to calculate the distance and travel time between locations.

  • POST /v1/waypoints to calculate the waypoints for a list of locations.

A query parameter, options, is also sent, with additional information about the request, namely the location, provider name, tenant id, and model.

The OpenAPI specification can be found below.

Details 
---
openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: External Maps Provider API
  description: External Maps Provider API
  contact:
    name: Timefold BV
    url: https://timefold.ai
    email: info@timefold.ai
  version: ""
servers:
- url: http://localhost:8480
  description: Auto generated value
- url: http://0.0.0.0:8480
  description: Auto generated value
paths:
  /v1/travelDistanceMatrix:
    post:
      summary: Calculates travel time and distance matrix
      parameters:
      - name: options
        in: query
        schema:
          type: string
      requestBody:
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              $ref: "#/components/schemas/LocationsDTO"
        required: true
      responses:
        "400":
          description: In case request given does not meet expectations
        "500":
          description: In case of processing errors
          content:
            application/json:
              schema: {}
        "200":
          description: Travel and distance matrices
          content:
            application/octet-stream:
              schema:
                $ref: "#/components/schemas/TravelTimeAndDistanceDTO"
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: "#/components/schemas/TravelTimeAndDistanceDTO"
      tags:
      - Test External Provider Resource
  /v1/waypoints:
    post:
      summary: Calculates waypoints
      parameters:
      - name: options
        in: query
        schema:
          type: string
      requestBody:
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: array
              items:
                $ref: "#/components/schemas/Location"
        required: true
      responses:
        "400":
          description: In case request given does not meet expectations
        "500":
          description: In case of processing errors
          content:
            application/json:
              schema: {}
        "200":
          description: List of waypoints
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: array
                items:
                  $ref: "#/components/schemas/Location"
      tags:
      - Test External Provider Resource
components:
  schemas:
    Location:
      description: "Array of two elements: latitude and longitude, in that order."
      maxItems: 2
      minItems: 2
      type: array
      items:
        format: double
        type: number
      example:
      - 40.5044403760272
      - -76.37894009358867
    LocationsDTO:
      type: object
      properties:
        source:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: "#/components/schemas/Location"
        destination:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: "#/components/schemas/Location"
    TravelTimeAndDistanceDTO:
      type: object
      properties:
        travelTime:
          type: array
          items:
            type: array
            items:
              format: double
              type: number
        distance:
          type: array
          items:
            type: array
            items:
              format: double
              type: number

travelDistanceMatrix endpoint

A typical request and response for the travelDistanceMatrix endpoint are shown below.

  • Request

  • Response

The source and destination locations to calculate the distance and travel time are sent as separate lists in the body of the request. Each location is represented in an array with two elements, latitude and longitude, in that order

curl --location 'localhost:8480/v1/travelDistanceMatrix?options=provider:external-provider,tenantId:af7c1fe6-d669-414e-b066-e9733f0de7a8,location:us-northeast,model:employee-scheduling-v1' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "source": [
        [
            42.3813,
            -71.1017
        ],
        [
            41.5509,
            -89.6030
        ],
        [
            -2.1,
            1.1
        ]
    ],
    "destination": [
        [
            42.3813,
            -71.1017
        ],
        [
            41.5509,
            -89.6030
        ],
        [
            -2.1,
            1.1
        ]
    ]
}'

The response includes two fields: travelTime and distance. Each field contains a list of lists, representing a matrix of the travel time (in seconds) and distances (in meters). The outer list must be the size of the number of source locations in the map, and each inner list must be the size of the number of destination locations in the map. The values must be represented in numerical format, with no negative numbers.

If a location is not in the map, it must be removed from the matrices, and the index of the location in the list must be added to one of the headers X-MAPS-LOCATIONS-NOT-IN-MAP-SOURCE or X-MAPS-LOCATIONS-NOT-IN-MAP-DESTINATION, depending on if the location is in the source or destination list. The list of locations not in the map is a comma separated list (eg. X-MAPS-LOCATIONS-NOT-IN-MAP-SOURCE=0,2,10,200).

{
    "travelTime": [
        [
            0.0,
            148123.0,
            591366.0
        ],
        [
            148123.0,
            0.0,
            701312.0
        ],
        [
            591366.0,
            701312.0,
            0.0
        ]
    ],
    "distance": [
        [
            0.0,
            2057259.0,
            8213422.0
        ],
        [
            2057259.0,
            0.0,
            9740451.0
        ],
        [
            8213422.0,
            9740451.0,
            0.0
        ]
    ]
}

waypoints endpoint

A typical request and response for the waypoints endpoint are shown below.

  • Request

  • Response

The list of locations to calculate the waypoints is sent as the body of the request.

curl --location 'localhost:8480/v1/waypoints?options=provider:external-provider,tenantId:af7c1fe6-d669-414e-b066-e9733f0de7a8,location:us-northeast,model:employee-scheduling-v1' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '
    [
        [
            42.3813,
            -71.1017
        ],
        [
            41.5509,
            -89.6030
        ],
        [
            -2.1,
            1.1
        ]
    ]'

The response contains a list with the location of the waypoints.

[
    [
        42.3813,
        -71.1017
    ],
    [
        41.5509,
        -89.603
    ],
    [
        -2.1,
        1.1
    ]
]

Location sets configuration

To avoid having to recalculate the distance matrix for the same locations, it’s possible to configure the precalculation of a location set. A location set is identified by its name and can be used by the models to avoid calculating an already cached distance matrix.

It’s possible to precalculate and cache a location set using the Location Sets Management API. The API is available at /api/admin/v1/tenants/{tenantId}/maps/location-sets, and it allows a user to configure location sets for a tenant. Each location set, besides the name and the list of locations, must also be configured with a region (the region of the map used, eg. osrm-britain-and-ireland) and a map provider (eg. osrm), so that it’s possible to create location sets for different regions and providers.

curl --location '{TIMEFOLD_PLATFORM_URL}/api/admin/v1/tenants/{TENANT_ID}/maps/location-sets' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}' \
--data '{
  "name": "{LOCATION_SET_NAME}",
  "locations": [
    [
      40.5044403760272,
      -76.37894009358867
    ],
    [
      41.5044403760272,
      -75.37894009358867
    ]
  ],
  "region": "{MAP_REGION}",
  "provider": "{MAP_PROVIDER}"
}'

After the creation of a location set, its status will be PROCESSING. After the matrix is calculated, the location set can be in one of two states: COMPLETED or FAILED. If the status is COMPLETED, the distance matrix of the location set was successfully calculated and cached. Otherwise, when the status is FAILED, the distance matrix was not stored in the cache.

  • Request

  • Response

curl --location '{TIMEFOLD_PLATFORM_URL}/api/admin/v1/tenants/{TENANT_ID}/maps/location-sets/{LOCATION_SET_NAME}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}'
{
    "name": "{LOCATION_SET_NAME}",
    "locations": [
      [
        40.5044403760272,
        -76.37894009358867
      ],
      [
        41.5044403760272,
        -75.37894009358867
      ]
    ],
    "region": "{MAP_REGION}",
    "provider": "{MAP_PROVIDER}",
    "status": "COMPLETED"
  }

When the location set is deleted, the distance matrix is also deleted and removed from the cache.

curl --location --request DELETE '{TIMEFOLD_PLATFORM_URL}/api/admin/v1/tenants/{TENANT_ID}/maps/location-sets/{LOCATION_SET_NAME}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}' \

It’s also possible to add a list of locations to a location set, using the PATCH operation. In this case the new locations will be added at the end of the location set.

curl --location --request PATCH '{TIMEFOLD_PLATFORM_URL}/api/admin/v1/tenants/{TENANT_ID}/maps/location-sets/{LOCATION_SET_NAME}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}' \
--data '[
  [
    43.5044403760272,
    -76.37894009358867
  ]
]'

All requests to the Location Sets Management API require a bearer token based on the oauth2 platform configuration.

For example, for the field-service-routing model, you can configure a location setting the field locationSetName of the modelInput with the name of the location set.

{
  "modelInput": {
    "locationSetName": "{LOCATION_SET_NAME}",
    ...
  },
  ...
}