Alternative Routes when driving (route options)

[ghost]

It would be very useful for Organic Maps to show alternative routes on the map when looking for driving directions.
For example, let's say you want to go to a city and press "ROUTE TO" for driving directions. It would be nice if on the map, along with the suggested route, alternative routes appeared on the map as well (just like other navigations apps do, like Apple Maps or Google Maps). Unfortunately, the default suggested route doesn't always suit me, sometimes the suggested route isn't the shortest one, both in terms of distance and time.
Some ideas for alternative routes could be: 1. least distance, 2. no highways, 3. route without tolls, 4. route with least amount of traffic lights, 5. more direct route (less turns)
All of these are just some ideas-suggestions and I don't expect to see all of them implemented. I know that some can be achieved through the settings "Routing options", however, this is time consuming and doesn't cover all my ideas. Not only that but these routing options apply to EVERY route, which is kind of a fuss, since there might be some trips that I prefer to NOT avoid tolls for example.
In the end, I know that Organic Maps will reroute, show different route after a while when it sees that I don't follow its suggested route, however, that isn't very convenient when it happens frequently and especially for drivers that get distracted when the navigation app offers directions that navigate you through a route you don't want to follow.
Hope I see this feature implemented in Organic Maps, thank you.

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[biodranik]

Thanks! Alternative routes are planned.

Some options (tolls, highways) are already configurable in the settings (but should be accessible more easily, that's and UI/UX issue).

[aditmehta9]

@biodranik Hi, I would like to work on this project can you provide any kind of guidance or hint that would be great.

[dumblob]

@aditmehta9 just wondering whether you got any guidance yet?

[terry9873]

+1 for this topic. After years wishing I could install a satnav on my phone, WITHOUT sacrificing my privacy, i had to make do with OSMand, which doesn't even "make do". Utterly useless in the UK. So I bought a TomTom off ebay and use that! Then today someone told me to try OM and WOW! Great job. The only thing I feel it needs is the requested feature here, maybe just 2 alternative routes as many of my long journeys have at least a few options which are similar in time/distance. Great app, THANK YOU. and I certainly will be contributing at least the £40 I can get for my satnav on fleabay :D
i love it when privacy enthusiasts put their mind to making apps! :)

[dumblob]

For those interested, there is an elaborate set of production-read algorithms needed for advanced offline routing:

https://github.com/valhalla/valhalla

(see also the multiple subprojects for individual tasks: https://github.com/valhalla/valhalla#organization )

[biodranik]

See also #3447

[terry9873]

For those interested, there is an elaborate set of production-read algorithms needed for advanced offline routing:

https://github.com/valhalla/valhalla

(see also the multiple subprojects for individual tasks: https://github.com/valhalla/valhalla#organization )

Any chance that could be translated to average-person-non-dev-speak please?

i.e. Does it mean the app now offers alternatve routes? as per the original request?

[bhankerson]

Hi! Just coming to Organic Maps, trying to find the best OSM-based car navigation. Do you have an estimate for when alternate and/or shortest route options will be added? Thanks!

[biodranik]

No estimates yet. There was a GSoC attempt, but it is unfinished: #3447 #2237

[shivangvijay]

Hello @vng @biodranik,
I would like to contribute to this project for GSOC'24. I am a Robotics Software Engineer working on swarm robotics navigation. I have gone through this thread and all mentioned issues in this thread. During my reading, one major doubt arose: when calculating the fastest route, is there consideration given to traffic, or is it solely based on the maximum speed achievable in a path and the shortest path? I believe obtaining traffic data might be challenging as it's an offline maps system.

I have reviewed #3447, where several alternative routes have been implemented. However, I am unsure why #3447 has not been merged with the master branch. I am planning to start reading the codebase and will attempt to solve few issues. I would greatly appreciate any guidance provided.

[shivangvijay]

Hello @vng @biodranik, I would like to contribute to this project for GSOC'24. I am a Robotics Software Engineer working on swarm robotics navigation. I have gone through this thread and all mentioned issues in this thread. During my reading, one major doubt arose: when calculating the fastest route, is there consideration given to traffic, or is it solely based on the maximum speed achievable in a path and the shortest path? I believe obtaining traffic data might be challenging as it's an offline maps system.

I have reviewed #3447, where several alternative routes have been implemented. However, I am unsure why #3447 has not been merged with the master branch. I am planning to start reading the codebase and will attempt to solve few issues. I would greatly appreciate any guidance provided.

I am supposed to receive a response. Is this not the right channel to communicate with mentors? Is there another medium available?

[vng]

We are still waiting for our GSoC'24 application approval. And we are still not sure about the tasks.

Can you describe in short your C++ knowledge and experience?

[shivangvijay]

I have been using C++ on a daily basis for the past three years. Currently, I am implementing Ant Colony Optimization for multi-agent path planning of AGVs. This is my second time participating in GSOC. Last year, in GSOC'23, I contributed as a C++ contributor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Emory University. Here are some links to open-source code repositories of my C++ development:

• https://github.com/shivangvijay/Cpp-Logger I used variadic templates to implement this logger.
• https://shivangvijay.github.io/GSoC/index.html GSOC'23 contribution.
• https://github.com/ControlCore-Project/concore/blob/main/concore.hpp
• https://github.com/shivangvijay/A_Start_Miko

[shivangvijay]

We are still waiting for our GSoC'24 application approval. And we are still not sure about the tasks.

Can you describe in short your C++ knowledge and experience?

@vng Have you decided on the final projects for this year?