Show HN: Pathfinder – Routing as a service | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Pathfinder – Routing as a service

pathfinder.readme.io

52 pointsajmichael19 comments

Genuine candid question : why use this when we have more established solutions like Graphhopper[0], the OSRM Project[1] or Open Trip Planner[2] among others ?

[0] https://graphhopper.com/

[1] http://project-osrm.org/

[2] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenTripPlanner

Another option to consider: Valhalla, the only open-source routing engine that can plan multimodal journeys (car, transit, walk, cycle) around the world. It can, for example, plan a journey on foot, rail, and bus that crosses multiple metro regions.

- all code at https://github.com/valhalla

- also available as a hosted service for free at https://mapzen.com/projects/turn-by-turn/

(N.B. I'm employed by Mapzen.)

You can also try out Mapzen's routing service along with many others, like OSRM and GraphHopper, on the OpenStreetMap site. For example: http://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=mapzen_bicycl...

Each routing engine has its strengths and weaknesses. Great that all share their code as open-source.

Thanks for the question! I'll admit I have limited knowledge about those services, but I believe they solve a slightly different problem. Pathfinder's primary use is services that have N drivers that can service any of M transportation requests.

The GraphHopper and OSRM Matrix APIs are closer to what Pathfinder does, however they do not assign route segments to vehicles. Pathfinder is perhaps one abstraction layer over them.

What are you using for calculating the time or distances between the services? (Edit: okay, saw another comment stating you are using Google Matrix API)

Basically you need a distance matrix for your vehicle routing problem.

BTW: the GraphHopper Directions API uses jsprit to solve VRP etc problems: https://graphhopper.com/#os-comparison

LOL, I thought this was going to be some sort Angular/React/Etc routing as a service thing!!

Ha, I thought it was packet switched network routing as a service.

I understand it's a beta, but no pages on pricing?

This would be an API I would build my business around. No way I would touch it without an idea of how much it will cost me once it exits beta.

Hey Cameron,

I understand your concern. At this point, we have no plans to charge for Pathfinder. Furthermore, if you're concerned about future viability of the API, all of our code is MIT-licensed at https://github.com/csse497 so it can be self hosted.

What is your plan for long term profitability if you have no plans to charge for this? I am nervous building tech around a free service that may either transition to a deal-breaking price (google app engine) or may disappear entirely due to the business going under.

It looks like it's open source with an MIT License, so at least you should have the option to self host.

https://github.com/CSSE497

Likely they are working out the bugs before discussing pricing.

Routinely in my job I will produce a free of charge beta for testing purposes before we have price discussions.

A bit unfair ... they stole our phrase "routing as a service" !1! ;)

https://twitter.com/graphhopper

I haven't dug around the code much but I assume this is using "As the Crow Flies" distances between points? I don't see any references to OSM or street network data.

We tried out "as the crow flies", OSM with the OSRM Distance Matrix API, and the Google Maps Distance Matrix API. We're currently using Google API although we may switch back to OSRM for scaling purposes.

For an open source project using OSM services might be wise not only scaling-wise :)

See 10.4 c) iv) "No asset-tracking unless you have purchased the applicable Maps for Work license." https://developers.google.com/maps/terms#10-license-restrict...

Hey, I noticed that I need to sign into google to make an account. Does this require a google account?

Hi Eric,

At the moment, we only support Google SignIn for creating accounts. We will certainly support more options in the future, but up until now we've been spending most of our time building our routing and api servers.

TSPaaS?

As catchy as that is, KVRPaaS would be more appropriate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_routing_problem

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