Avoid Sharp turns and U-turns

Products Used: Directions API & Navigation API

NextBillion.ai’s routing APIs provide a powerful “avoid” parameter to configure routes to suit different business requirements of fleet management. Users can leverage the available options to avoid routing through highways, tolls, service roads and dangerous u-turns or sharp_turns. These features provide a high-degree of flexibility to serve the routing constraints of different vehicles as well as meet business requirements.

We will take a look at a couple of examples to see their impact on the suggested routes.

Avoid U turns

In this example, we will request a directions using the Directions API with

• An “origin” and “destination” for the pick-up van trip
• “mode” option set to “car”
• “avoid” configuration set to “uturn”

Directions API request

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curl --location 'https://api.nextbillion.io/directions/json?origin=38.83377917,-77.11917420&destination=38.83397747,-77.11895667&mode=car&key=<your_api_key>&option=flexible&avoid=uturn'

Directions API response

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{
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  "status": "Ok",
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  "routes": "[...]"
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}

Notice that if the avoid option is removed from the input request the route suggested is quite different and does go through a highway.

Avoid service roads

In this example, we will request step-by-step instructions using the Navigation API to generate a route suitable for a freight truck by avoiding any sharp turns and u-turns. We specify:

• An “origin” and “destination”
• “mode” option set to “truck”
• “avoid” configuration set to “sharp_turn” and “uturn”

Navigation API request

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curl --location 'https://api.nextbillion.io/navigation/json?origin=33.3220362,-117.2358124&destination=33.329168,-117.24246&mode=truck&key=<your_api_key>&option=flexible&avoid=service_road'

Navigation API response

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{
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  "status": "Ok",
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  "routes": "[...]"
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}

Visit product documentation (Directions API | Navigation API) to know more about the available features.