Valhalla routing service API reference

Valhalla's routing service (a.k.a. turn-by-turn), is an open-source routing service that lets you integrate routing and navigation into a web or mobile application.

Inputs of a route

The route request run locally takes the form of localhost:8002/route?json={}, where the JSON inputs inside the {} include location information, name and options for the costing model, and output options. Here is the JSON payload for an example request:

{"locations":[{"lat":42.358528,"lon":-83.271400,"street":"Appleton"},{"lat":42.996613,"lon":-78.749855,"street":"Ranch Trail"}],"costing":"auto","costing_options":{"auto":{"country_crossing_penalty":2000.0}},"units":"miles","id":"my_work_route"}

This request provides automobile routing between the Detroit, Michigan area and Buffalo, New York, with an optional street name parameter to improve navigation at the start and end points. It attempts to avoid routing north through Canada by adding a penalty for crossing international borders. The resulting route is displayed in miles.

There is an option to name your route request. You can do this by appending the following to your request &id=. The id is returned with the response so a user could match to the corresponding request.

Locations

You specify locations as an ordered list of two or more locations within a JSON array. Locations are visited in the order specified.

A location must include a latitude and longitude in decimal degrees. The coordinates can come from many input sources, such as a GPS location, a point or a click on a map, a geocoding service, and so on. Note that the Valhalla cannot search for names or addresses or perform geocoding or reverse geocoding. External search services, such as Mapbox Geocoding, can be used to find places and geocode addresses, which must be converted to coordinates for input.

To build a route, you need to specify two break locations. In addition, you can include through, via or break_through locations to influence the route path.

Location parameters description

Location parameters	Description
lat	Latitude of the location in degrees. This is assumed to be both the routing location and the display location if no display_lat and display_lon are provided.
lon	Longitude of the location in degrees. This is assumed to be both the routing location and the display location if no display_lat and display_lon are provided.
type	Type of location, either break, through, via or break_through. Each type controls two characteristics: whether or not to allow a u-turn at the location and whether or not to generate guidance/legs at the location. A break is a location at which we allows u-turns and generate legs and arrival/departure maneuvers. A through location is a location at which we neither allow u-turns nor generate legs or arrival/departure maneuvers. A via location is a location at which we allow u-turns but do not generate legs or arrival/departure maneuvers. A break_through location is a location at which we do not allow u-turns but do generate legs and arrival/departure maneuvers. If no type is provided, the type is assumed to be a break. The types of the first and last locations are ignored and are treated as breaks.
heading	(optional) Preferred direction of travel for the start from the location. This can be useful for mobile routing where a vehicle is traveling in a specific direction along a road, and the route should start in that direction. The heading is indicated in degrees from north in a clockwise direction, where north is 0°, east is 90°, south is 180°, and west is 270°.
heading_tolerance	(optional) How close in degrees a given street's angle must be in order for it to be considered as in the same direction of the heading parameter. The default value is 60 degrees.
street	(optional) Street name. The street name may be used to assist finding the correct routing location at the specified latitude, longitude. This is not currently implemented.
way_id	(optional) OpenStreetMap identification number for a polyline way. The way ID may be used to assist finding the correct routing location at the specified latitude, longitude. This is not currently implemented.
minimum_reachability	Minimum number of nodes (intersections) reachable for a given edge (road between intersections) to consider that edge as belonging to a connected region. When correlating this location to the route network, try to find candidates who are reachable from this many or more nodes (intersections). If a given candidate edge reaches less than this number of nodes its considered to be a disconnected island and we'll search for more candidates until we find at least one that isn't considered a disconnected island. If this value is larger than the configured service limit it will be clamped to that limit. The default is a minimum of 50 reachable nodes.
radius	The number of meters about this input location within which edges (roads between intersections) will be considered as candidates for said location. When correlating this location to the route network, try to only return results within this distance (meters) from this location. If there are no candidates within this distance it will return the closest candidate within reason. If this value is larger than the configured service limit it will be clamped to that limit. The default is 0 meters.
rank_candidates	Whether or not to rank the edge candidates for this location. The ranking is used as a penalty within the routing algorithm so that some edges will be penalized more heavily than others. If true candidates will be ranked according to their distance from the input and various other attributes. If false the candidates will all be treated as equal which should lead to routes that are just the most optimal path with emphasis about which edges were selected.
preferred_side	If the location is not offset from the road centerline or is closest to an intersection this option has no effect. Otherwise the determined side of street is used to determine whether or not the location should be visited from the same, opposite or either side of the road with respect to the side of the road the given locale drives on. In Germany (driving on the right side of the road), passing a value of same will only allow you to leave from or arrive at a location such that the location will be on your right. In Australia (driving on the left side of the road), passing a value of same will force the location to be on your left. A value of opposite will enforce arriving/departing from a location on the opposite side of the road from that which you would be driving on while a value of either will make no attempt limit the side of street that is available for the route.
display_lat	Latitude of the map location in degrees. If provided the lat and lon parameters will be treated as the routing location and the display_lat and display_lon will be used to determine the side of street. Both display_lat and display_lon must be provided and valid to achieve the desired effect.
display_lon	Longitude of the map location in degrees. If provided the lat and lon parameters will be treated as the routing location and the display_lat and display_lon will be used to determine the side of street. Both display_lat and display_lon must be provided and valid to achieve the desired effect.
search_cutoff	The cutoff at which we will assume the input is too far away from civilisation to be worth correlating to the nearest graph elements. The default is 35 km.
node_snap_tolerance	During edge correlation this is the tolerance used to determine whether or not to snap to the intersection rather than along the street, if the snap location is within this distance from the intersection the intersection is used instead. The default is 5 meters.
street_side_tolerance	If your input coordinate is less than this tolerance away from the edge centerline then we set your side of street to none otherwise your side of street will be left or right depending on direction of travel. The default is 5 meters.
street_side_max_distance	The max distance in meters that the input coordinates can be from the edge centerline for them to be used for determining the side of street. Beyond this distance the side of street is set to none. The default is 1000 meters.
street_side_cutoff	Disables the preferred_side when set to same or opposite if the edge has a road class less than that provided by street_side_cutoff. The road class must be one of the following strings: motorway, trunk, primary, secondary, tertiary, unclassified, residential, service_other. The default value is service_other so that preferred_side will not be disabled for any edges.
search_filter	A set of optional filters to exclude candidate edges based on their attribution. The following exclusion filters are supported: exclude_tunnel (boolean, defaults to false): whether to exclude roads marked as tunnels exclude_bridge (boolean, defaults to false): whether to exclude roads marked as bridges exclude_ramp (boolean, defaults to false): whether to exclude link roads marked as ramps, note that some turn channels are also marked as ramps exclude_closures (boolean, defaults to true): whether to exclude roads considered closed due to live traffic closure. Note: This option cannot be set if costing_options.ignore_closures is also specified. An error is returned if both options are specified. Note 2: Ignoring closures at destination and source locations does NOT work for date_time type 0/1 & 2 respectively min_road_class (string, defaults to "service_other"): lowest road class allowed max_road_class (string, defaults to "motorway"): highest road class allowed Road classes from highest to lowest are: motorway, trunk, primary, secondary, tertiary, unclassified, residential, service_other.

Optionally, you can include the following location information without impacting the routing. This information is carried through the request and returned as a convenience.

• name = Location or business name. The name may be used in the route narration directions, such as "You have arrived at <business name>.")
• city = City name.
• state = State name.
• postal_code = Postal code.
• country = Country name.
• phone = Telephone number.
• url = URL for the place or location.
• waiting: The waiting time in seconds at this location. E.g. when the route describes a pizza delivery tour, each location has a service time, which can be respected by setting waiting on the location, then the departure will be delayed by this amount in seconds. Only works for break or break_through types.
• side_of_street = (response only) The side of street of a break location that is determined based on the actual route when the location is offset from the street. The possible values are left and right.
• date_time = (response only for /route) Expected date/time for the user to be at the location using the ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm) in the local time zone of departure or arrival. For example "2015-12-29T08:00". If waiting was set on this location in the request, and it's an intermediate location, the date_time will describe the departure time at this location.

Future development work includes adding location options and information related to time at each location. This will allow routes to specify a start time or an arrive by time at each location. There is also ongoing work to improve support for through locations.

Costing models

Valhalla's routing service uses dynamic, run-time costing to generate the route path. The route request must include the name of the costing model and can include optional parameters available for the chosen costing model.

Costing model description

Costing model	Description
auto	Standard costing for driving routes by car, motorcycle, truck, and so on that obeys automobile driving rules, such as access and turn restrictions. Auto provides a short time path (though not guaranteed to be shortest time) and uses intersection costing to minimize turns and maneuvers or road name changes. Routes also tend to favor highways and higher classification roads, such as motorways and trunks.
bicycle	Standard costing for travel by bicycle, with a slight preference for using cycleways or roads with bicycle lanes. Bicycle routes follow regular roads when needed, but avoid roads without bicycle access.
bus	Standard costing for bus routes. Bus costing inherits the auto costing behaviors, but checks for bus access on the roads.
bikeshare	A combination of pedestrian and bicycle. Use bike share station(amenity:bicycle_rental) to change the travel mode
truck	Standard costing for trucks. Truck costing inherits the auto costing behaviors, but checks for truck access, width and height restrictions, and weight limits on the roads.
hov	DEPRECATED: use auto cost with HOV costing options.
taxi	Standard costing for taxi routes. Taxi costing inherits the auto costing behaviors, but checks for taxi lane access on the roads and favors those roads.
motor_scooter	Standard costing for travel by motor scooter or moped. By default, motor_scooter costing will avoid higher class roads unless the country overrides allows motor scooters on these roads. Motor scooter routes follow regular roads when needed, but avoid roads without motor_scooter, moped, or mofa access.
motorcycle	Standard costing for travel by motorcycle. This costing model provides options to tune the route to take roadways (road touring) vs. tracks and trails (adventure motorcycling).
multimodal	Currently supports pedestrian and transit. In the future, multimodal will support a combination of all of the above.
pedestrian	Standard walking route that excludes roads without pedestrian access. In general, pedestrian routes are shortest distance with the following exceptions: walkways and footpaths are slightly favored, while steps or stairs and alleys are slightly avoided.

Costing options

Costing methods can have several options that can be adjusted to develop the route path, as well as for estimating time along the path. Specify costing model options in your request using the format of costing_options.type, such as costing_options.auto.

• Cost options are fixed costs in seconds that are added to both the path cost and the estimated time. Examples of costs are gate_costs and toll_booth_costs, where a fixed amount of time is added. Costs are not generally used to influence the route path; instead, use penalties to do this. Costs must be in the range of 0.0 seconds to 43200.0 seconds (12 hours), otherwise a default value will be assigned.
• Penalty options are fixed costs in seconds that are only added to the path cost. Penalties can influence the route path determination but do not add to the estimated time along the path. For example, add a toll_booth_penalty to create route paths that tend to avoid toll booths. Penalties must be in the range of 0.0 seconds to 43200.0 seconds (12 hours), otherwise a default value will be assigned.
• Factor options are used to multiply the cost along an edge or road section in a way that influences the path to favor or avoid a particular attribute. Factor options do not impact estimated time along the path, though. Factors must be in the range 0.1 to 100000.0, where factors of 1.0 have no influence on cost. Anything outside of this range will be assigned a default value. Use a factor less than 1.0 to attempt to favor paths containing preferred attributes, and a value greater than 1.0 to avoid paths with undesirable attributes. Avoidance factors are more effective than favor factors at influencing a path. A factor's impact also depends on the length of road containing the specified attribute, as longer roads have more impact on the costing than very short roads. For this reason, penalty options tend to be better at influencing paths.

A special costing option is shortest, which, when true, will solely use distance as cost and disregard all other costs, penalties and factors. It's available for all costing models except multimodal & bikeshare.

Another special case is disable_hierarchy_pruning costing option. As the name indicates, disable_hierarchy_pruning = true will disable hierarchies in routing algorithms, which allows us to find the actual optimal route even in edge cases. For example, together with shortest = true they can find the actual shortest route. When disable_hierarchy_pruning is true and arc distances between source and target are not above the max limit, the actual optimal route will be calculated at the expense of performance. Note that if arc distances between locations exceed the max limit, disable_hierarchy_pruning is true will not be applied. This costing option is available for all motorized costing models, i.e auto, motorcycle, motor_scooter, bus, truck & taxi. For bicycle and pedestrian hierarchies are always disabled by default.

Automobile and bus costing options

These options are available for auto, bus, and truck costing methods.

Automobile options description

Automobile options	Description
maneuver_penalty	A penalty applied when transitioning between roads that do not have consistent naming–in other words, no road names in common. This penalty can be used to create simpler routes that tend to have fewer maneuvers or narrative guidance instructions. The default maneuver penalty is five seconds.
gate_cost	A cost applied when a gate with undefined or private access is encountered. This cost is added to the estimated time / elapsed time. The default gate cost is 30 seconds.
gate_penalty	A penalty applied when a gate with no access information is on the road. The default gate penalty is 300 seconds.
private_access_penalty	A penalty applied when a gate or bollard with access=private is encountered. The default private access penalty is 450 seconds.
toll_booth_cost	A cost applied when a toll booth is encountered. This cost is added to the estimated and elapsed times. The default cost is 15 seconds.
toll_booth_penalty	A penalty applied to the cost when a toll booth is encountered. This penalty can be used to create paths that avoid toll roads. The default toll booth penalty is 0.
ferry_cost	A cost applied when entering a ferry. This cost is added to the estimated and elapsed times. The default cost is 300 seconds (5 minutes).
use_ferry	This value indicates the willingness to take ferries. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid ferries and values near 1 will favor ferries. The default value is 0.5. Note that sometimes ferries are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid ferries entirely.
use_highways	This value indicates the willingness to take highways. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid highways and values near 1 will favor highways. The default value is 1.0. Note that sometimes highways are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid highways entirely.
use_tolls	This value indicates the willingness to take roads with tolls. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid tolls and values near 1 will not attempt to avoid them. The default value is 0.5. Note that sometimes roads with tolls are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid them entirely.
use_living_streets	This value indicates the willingness to take living streets. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid living streets and values near 1 will favor living streets. The default value is 0 for trucks, 0.1 for cars, buses, motor scooters and motorcycles. Note that sometimes living streets are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid living streets entirely.
use_tracks	This value indicates the willingness to take track roads. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid tracks and values near 1 will favor tracks a little bit. The default value is 0 for autos, 0.5 for motor scooters and motorcycles. Note that sometimes tracks are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid tracks entirely.
service_penalty	A penalty applied for transition to generic service road. The default penalty is 0 trucks and 15 for cars, buses, motor scooters and motorcycles.
service_factor	A factor that modifies (multiplies) the cost when generic service roads are encountered. The default service_factor is 1.
country_crossing_cost	A cost applied when encountering an international border. This cost is added to the estimated and elapsed times. The default cost is 600 seconds.
country_crossing_penalty	A penalty applied for a country crossing. This penalty can be used to create paths that avoid spanning country boundaries. The default penalty is 0.
shortest	Changes the metric to quasi-shortest, i.e. purely distance-based costing. Note, this will disable all other costings & penalties. Also note, shortest will not disable hierarchy pruning, leading to potentially sub-optimal routes for some costing models. The default is false.
disable_hierarchy_pruning	Disable hierarchies to calculate the actual optimal route. The default is false. Note: This could be quite a performance drainer so there is a upper limit of distance. If the upper limit is exceeded, this option will always be false.
top_speed	Top speed the vehicle can go. Also used to avoid roads with higher speeds than this value. top_speed must be between 10 and 252 KPH. The default value is 140 KPH.
fixed_speed	Fixed speed the vehicle can go. Used to override the calculated speed. Can be useful if speed of vehicle is known. fixed_speed must be between 1 and 252 KPH. The default value is 0 KPH which disables fixed speed and falls back to the standard calculated speed based on the road attribution.
ignore_closures	If set to true, ignores all closures, marked due to live traffic closures, during routing. Note: This option cannot be set if location.search_filter.exclude_closures is also specified in the request and will return an error if it is
closure_factor	A factor that penalizes the cost when traversing a closed edge (eg: if search_filter.exclude_closures is false for origin and/or destination location and the route starts/ends on closed edges). Its value can range from 1.0 - don't penalize closed edges, to 10.0 - apply high cost penalty to closed edges. Default value is 9.0. Note: This factor is applicable only for motorized modes of transport, i.e auto, motorcycle, motor_scooter, bus, truck & taxi.

Other costing options

The following options are available for auto, bus, taxi, and truck costing methods.

Vehicle options description

Vehicle options	Description
height	The height of the vehicle (in meters). Default 1.9 for car, bus, taxi and 4.11 for truck.
width	The width of the vehicle (in meters). Default 1.6 for car, bus, taxi and 2.6 for truck.
exclude_unpaved	This value indicates whether or not the path may include unpaved roads. If exclude_unpaved is set to 1 it is allowed to start and end with unpaved roads, but is not allowed to have them in the middle of the route path, otherwise they are allowed. Default false.
exclude_cash_only_tolls	A boolean value which indicates the desire to avoid routes with cash-only tolls. Default false.
include_hov2	A boolean value which indicates the desire to include HOV roads with a 2-occupant requirement in the route when advantageous. Default false.
include_hov3	A boolean value which indicates the desire to include HOV roads with a 3-occupant requirement in the route when advantageous. Default false.
include_hot	A boolean value which indicates the desire to include tolled HOV roads which require the driver to pay a toll if the occupant requirement isn't met. Default false.

The following options are available for truck costing.

Truck options description

Truck options	Description
length	The length of the truck (in meters). Default 21.64.
weight	The weight of the truck (in metric tons). Default 21.77.
axle_load	The axle load of the truck (in metric tons). Default 9.07.
axle_count	The axle count of the truck. Default 5.
hazmat	A value indicating if the truck is carrying hazardous materials. Default false.

Bicycle costing options

The default bicycle costing is tuned toward road bicycles with a slight preference for using cycleways or roads with bicycle lanes. Bicycle routes use regular roads where needed or where no direct bicycle lane options exist, but avoid roads without bicycle access. The costing model recognizes several factors unique to bicycle travel and offers several options for tuning bicycle routes. Several factors unique to travel by bicycle influence the resulting route.

• The types of roads suitable for bicycling depend on the type of bicycle. Road bicycles (skinny or narrow tires) generally are suited to paved roads or perhaps very short sections of compacted gravel. They are not designed for riding on coarse gravel or most paths and tracks through wooded areas or farmland. Mountain bikes, on the other hand, are able to traverse a wider set of surfaces.
• Average travel speed can be highly variable and can depend on bicycle type, fitness and experience of the cyclist, road surface, and hills. The costing model assumes a default speed on smooth, flat roads for each supported bicycle type. This speed can be overridden by an input option. The base speed is modulated by surface type (in conjunction with the bicycle type). In addition, speed is modified based on the hilliness of a road section.
• Bicyclists vary in their tolerance for riding on roads. Most novice bicyclists, and even other bicyclists, prefer cycleways and dedicated cycling paths and would rather avoid all but the quietest neighborhood roads. Other cyclists may be experienced riding on roads and prefer to take roadways because they often provide the fastest way to get between two places. The bicycle costing model accounts for this with a use_roads factor to indicate a cyclist's tolerance for riding on roads.
• Bicyclists vary in their fitness level and experience level, and many want to avoid hilly roads, and especially roads with very steep uphill or even downhill sections. Even if the fastest path is over a mountain, many cyclists prefer a flatter path that avoids the climb and descent up and over the mountain.

The following options described above for autos also apply to bicycle costing methods: maneuver_penalty, gate_cost, gate_penalty, country_crossing_cost, country_costing_penalty, and service_penalty.

These additional options are available for bicycle costing methods.

Bicycle options description

Bicycle options	Description
bicycle_type	The type of bicycle. The default type is Hybrid. Road: a road-style bicycle with narrow tires that is generally lightweight and designed for speed on paved surfaces. Hybrid or City: a bicycle made mostly for city riding or casual riding on roads and paths with good surfaces. Cross: a cyclo-cross bicycle, which is similar to a road bicycle but with wider tires suitable to rougher surfaces. Mountain: a mountain bicycle suitable for most surfaces but generally heavier and slower on paved surfaces.
cycling_speed	Cycling speed is the average travel speed along smooth, flat roads. This is meant to be the speed a rider can comfortably maintain over the desired distance of the route. It can be modified (in the costing method) by surface type in conjunction with bicycle type and (coming soon) by hilliness of the road section. When no speed is specifically provided, the default speed is determined by the bicycle type and are as follows: Road = 25 KPH (15.5 MPH), Cross = 20 KPH (13 MPH), Hybrid/City = 18 KPH (11.5 MPH), and Mountain = 16 KPH (10 MPH).
use_roads	A cyclist's propensity to use roads alongside other vehicles. This is a range of values from 0 to 1, where 0 attempts to avoid roads and stay on cycleways and paths, and 1 indicates the rider is more comfortable riding on roads. Based on the use_roads factor, roads with certain classifications and higher speeds are penalized in an attempt to avoid them when finding the best path. The default value is 0.5.
use_hills	A cyclist's desire to tackle hills in their routes. This is a range of values from 0 to 1, where 0 attempts to avoid hills and steep grades even if it means a longer (time and distance) path, while 1 indicates the rider does not fear hills and steeper grades. Based on the use_hills factor, penalties are applied to roads based on elevation change and grade. These penalties help the path avoid hilly roads in favor of flatter roads or less steep grades where available. Note that it is not always possible to find alternate paths to avoid hills (for example when route locations are in mountainous areas). The default value is 0.5.
use_ferry	This value indicates the willingness to take ferries. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid ferries and values near 1 will favor ferries. Note that sometimes ferries are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid ferries entirely. The default value is 0.5.
use_living_streets	This value indicates the willingness to take living streets. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid living streets and values from 0.5 to 1 will currently have no effect on route selection. The default value is 0.5. Note that sometimes living streets are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid living streets entirely.
avoid_bad_surfaces	This value is meant to represent how much a cyclist wants to avoid roads with poor surfaces relative to the bicycle type being used. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. When the value is 0, there is no penalization of roads with different surface types; only bicycle speed on each surface is taken into account. As the value approaches 1, roads with poor surfaces for the bike are penalized heavier so that they are only taken if they significantly improve travel time. When the value is equal to 1, all bad surfaces are completely disallowed from routing, including start and end points. The default value is 0.25.
bss_return_cost	This value is useful when bikeshare is chosen as travel mode. It is meant to give the time will be used to return a rental bike. This value will be displayed in the final directions and used to calculate the whole duation. The default value is 120 seconds.
bss_return_penalty	This value is useful when bikeshare is chosen as travel mode. It is meant to describe the potential effort to return a rental bike. This value won't be displayed and used only inside of the algorithm.
shortest	Changes the metric to quasi-shortest, i.e. purely distance-based costing. Note, this will disable all other costings & penalties. Also note, shortest will not disable hierarchy pruning, leading to potentially sub-optimal routes for some costing models. The default is false.

Motor_scooter costing options

Standard costing for travel by motor scooter or moped. By default, motor_scooter costing will avoid higher class roads unless the country overrides allows motor scooters on these roads. Motor scooter routes follow regular roads when needed, but avoid roads without motor_scooter, moped, or mofa access. The costing model recognizes factors unique to motor_scooter travel and offers options for tuning motor_scooter routes. Factors unique to travel by motor_scooter influence the resulting route.

All of the options described above for autos also apply to motor_scooter costing methods. These additional options are available for motor_scooter costing methods.

Motor_scooter options description

Motor_scooter options	Description
top_speed	Top speed the motorized scooter can go. Used to avoid roads with higher speeds than this value. For motor_scooter this value must be between 20 and 120 KPH. The default value is 45 KPH (~28 MPH)
use_primary	A riders's propensity to use primary roads. This is a range of values from 0 to 1, where 0 attempts to avoid primary roads, and 1 indicates the rider is more comfortable riding on primary roads. Based on the use_primary factor, roads with certain classifications and higher speeds are penalized in an attempt to avoid them when finding the best path. The default value is 0.5.
use_hills	A riders's desire to tackle hills in their routes. This is a range of values from 0 to 1, where 0 attempts to avoid hills and steep grades even if it means a longer (time and distance) path, while 1 indicates the rider does not fear hills and steeper grades. Based on the use_hills factor, penalties are applied to roads based on elevation change and grade. These penalties help the path avoid hilly roads in favor of flatter roads or less steep grades where available. Note that it is not always possible to find alternate paths to avoid hills (for example when route locations are in mountainous areas). The default value is 0.5.
shortest	Changes the metric to quasi-shortest, i.e. purely distance-based costing. Note, this will disable all other costings & penalties. Also note, shortest will not disable hierarchy pruning, leading to potentially sub-optimal routes for some costing models. The default is false.
disable_hierarchy_pruning	Disable hierarchies to calculate the actual optimal route. The default is false. Note: This could be quite a performance drainer so there is a upper limit of distance. If the upper limit is exceeded, this option will always be false.

Motorcycle costing options

Standard costing for travel by motorcycle. By default, motorcycle costing will default to higher class roads. The costing model recognizes factors unique to motorcycle travel and offers options for tuning motorcycle routes.

All of the options described above for autos also apply to motorcycle costing methods. The following options are available for motorcycle costing:

Motorcycle options description

Motorcycle options	Description
use_highways	A riders's propensity to prefer the use of highways. This is a range of values from 0 to 1, where 0 attempts to avoid highways, and values toward 1 indicates the rider prefers highways. The default value is 1.0.
use_trails	A riders's desire for adventure in their routes. This is a range of values from 0 to 1, where 0 will avoid trails, tracks, unclassified or bad surfaces and values towards 1 will tend to avoid major roads and route on secondary roads. The default value is 0.0.
shortest	Changes the metric to quasi-shortest, i.e. purely distance-based costing. Note, this will disable all other costings & penalties. Also note, shortest will not disable hierarchy pruning, leading to potentially sub-optimal routes for some costing models. The default is false.
disable_hierarchy_pruning	Disable hierarchies to calculate the actual optimal route. The default is false. Note: This could be quite a performance drainer so there is a upper limit of distance. If the upper limit is exceeded, this option will always be false.

Pedestrian costing options

These options are available for pedestrian costing methods.

Pedestrian options description

Pedestrian options	Description
walking_speed	Walking speed in kilometers per hour. Must be between 0.5 and 25 km/hr. Defaults to 5.1 km/hr (3.1 miles/hour).
walkway_factor	A factor that modifies the cost when encountering roads classified as footway (no motorized vehicles allowed), which may be designated footpaths or designated sidewalks along residential roads. Pedestrian routes generally attempt to favor using these walkways and sidewalks. The default walkway_factor is 1.0.
sidewalk_factor	A factor that modifies the cost when encountering roads with dedicated sidewalks. Pedestrian routes generally attempt to favor using sidewalks. The default sidewalk_factor is 1.0.
alley_factor	A factor that modifies (multiplies) the cost when alleys are encountered. Pedestrian routes generally want to avoid alleys or narrow service roads between buildings. The default alley_factor is 2.0.
driveway_factor	A factor that modifies (multiplies) the cost when encountering a driveway, which is often a private, service road. Pedestrian routes generally want to avoid driveways (private). The default driveway factor is 5.0.
step_penalty	A penalty in seconds added to each transition onto a path with steps or stairs. Higher values apply larger cost penalties to avoid paths that contain flights of steps.
use_ferry	This value indicates the willingness to take ferries. This is range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid ferries and values near 1 will favor ferries. The default value is 0.5. Note that sometimes ferries are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid ferries entirely.
use_living_streets	This value indicates the willingness to take living streets. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid living streets and values near 1 will favor living streets. The default value is 0.6. Note that sometimes living streets are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid living streets entirely.
use_tracks	This value indicates the willingness to take track roads. This is a range of values between 0 and 1. Values near 0 attempt to avoid tracks and values near 1 will favor tracks a little bit. The default value is 0.5. Note that sometimes tracks are required to complete a route so values of 0 are not guaranteed to avoid tracks entirely.
use_hills	This is a range of values from 0 to 1, where 0 attempts to avoid hills and steep grades even if it means a longer (time and distance) path, while 1 indicates the pedestrian does not fear hills and steeper grades. Based on the use_hills factor, penalties are applied to roads based on elevation change and grade. These penalties help the path avoid hilly roads in favor of flatter roads or less steep grades where available. Note that it is not always possible to find alternate paths to avoid hills (for example when route locations are in mountainous areas). The default value is 0.5.
use_lit	This value is a range of values from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates indifference towards lit streets, and 1 indicates that unlit streets should be avoided. Note that even with values near 1, there is no guarantee the returned route will include lit segments. The default value is 0.
service_penalty	A penalty applied for transition to generic service road. The default penalty is 0.
service_factor	A factor that modifies (multiplies) the cost when generic service roads are encountered. The default service_factor is 1.
max_hiking_difficulty	This value indicates the maximum difficulty of hiking trails that is allowed. Values between 0 and 6 are allowed. The values correspond to sac_scale values within OpenStreetMap. The default value is 1 which means that well cleared trails that are mostly flat or slightly sloped are allowed. Higher difficulty trails can be allowed by specifying a higher value for max_hiking_difficulty.
bss_rent_cost	This value is useful when bikeshare is chosen as travel mode. It is meant to give the time will be used to rent a bike from a bike share station. This value will be displayed in the final directions and used to calculate the whole duation. The default value is 120 seconds.
bss_rent_penalty	This value is useful when bikeshare is chosen as travel mode. It is meant to describe the potential effort to rent a bike from a bike share station. This value won't be displayed and used only inside of the algorithm.
shortest	Changes the metric to quasi-shortest, i.e. purely distance-based costing. Note, this will disable all other costings & penalties. Also note, shortest will not disable hierarchy pruning, leading to potentially sub-optimal routes for some costing models. The default is false.
transit_start_end_max_distance	A pedestrian option that can be added to the request to extend the defaults (2145 meters or approximately 1.5 miles). This is the maximum walking distance at the beginning or end of a route.
transit_transfer_max_distance	A pedestrian option that can be added to the request to extend the defaults (800 meters or 0.5 miles). This is the maximum walking distance between transfers.

Transit costing options

These options are available for transit costing when the multimodal costing model is used.

Transit options description

Transit options	Description
use_bus	User's desire to use buses. Range of values from 0 (try to avoid buses) to 1 (strong preference for riding buses).
use_rail	User's desire to use rail/subway/metro. Range of values from 0 (try to avoid rail) to 1 (strong preference for riding rail).
use_transfers	User's desire to favor transfers. Range of values from 0 (try to avoid transfers) to 1 (totally comfortable with transfers).
filters	A way to filter for one or more stops (TODO: need to re-enable), routes, or operators. Filters must contain a list of so-called Onestop IDs, which is (supposed to be) a unique identifier for GTFS data, and an action. The OneStop ID is simply the feeds's directory name and the object's GTFS ID separated by an underscore, i.e. a route with route_id: AUR in routes.txt from the feed NYC would have the OneStop ID NYC_AUR, similar with operators/agencies. ids: any number of Onestop IDs action: either exclude to exclude all of the ids listed in the filter or include to include only the ids listed in the filter

Sample JSON payloads for multimodal requests with transit

A multimodal request at the current date and time:

{"locations":[{"lat":40.730930,"lon":-73.991379,"street":"Wanamaker Place"},{"lat":40.749706,"lon":-73.991562,"street":"Penn Plaza"}],"costing":"multimodal","units":"miles"}

A multimodal request departing on 2016-03-29 at 08:00:

{"locations":[{"lat":40.749706,"lon":-73.991562,"type":"break","street":"Penn Plaza"},{"lat":40.73093,"lon":-73.991379,"type":"break","street":"Wanamaker Place"}],"costing":"multimodal","date_time":{"type":1,"value":"2016-03-29T08:00"}}

A multimodal request for a route favoring buses and a person walking at a set speed of 4.1 km/h:

{"locations":[{"lat":40.749706,"lon":-73.991562,"type":"break","street":"Penn Plaza"},{"lat":40.73093,"lon":-73.991379,"type":"break","street":"Wanamaker Place"}],"costing":"multimodal","costing_options":{"transit":{"use_bus":"1.0","use_rail":"0.0","use_transfers":"0.3"},"pedestrian":{"walking_speed":"4.1"}}}

A multimodal request with a filter for certain Onestop IDs:

{"locations":[{"lat":40.730930,"lon":-73.991379,"street":"Wanamaker Place"},{"lat":40.749706,"lon":-73.991562,"street":"Penn Plaza"}],"costing":"multimodal","costing_options":{"transit":{"filters":{"routes":{"ids":["NYC_AUR"],"action":"exclude"},"operators":{"ids":["paris_CFG","berlin_VBB"],"action":"include"}}}},"units":"miles"}

Directions options

Directions options should be specified at the top level of the JSON object.

Directions options description

Directions options	Description
units	Distance units for output. Allowable unit types are miles (or mi) and kilometers (or km). If no unit type is specified, the units default to kilometers.
language	The language of the narration instructions based on the IETF BCP 47 language tag string. If no language is specified or the specified language is unsupported, United States-based English (en-US) is used. Currently supported language list
directions_type	An enum with 3 values. none indicating no maneuvers or instructions should be returned. maneuvers indicating that only maneuvers be returned. instructions indicating that maneuvers with instructions should be returned (this is the default if not specified).
format	Four options are available: json is default valhalla routing directions JSON format gpx returns the route as a GPX (GPS exchange format) XML track osrm creates a OSRM compatible route directions JSON pbf formats the result using protocol buffers
banner_instructions	If the format is osrm, this boolean indicates if each step should have the additional bannerInstructions attribute, which can be displayed in some navigation system SDKs.
alternates	A number denoting how many alternate routes should be provided. There may be no alternates or less alternates than the user specifies. Alternates are not yet supported on multipoint routes (that is, routes with more than 2 locations). They are also not supported on time dependent routes.

For example a bus request with the result in Spanish using the OSRM (Open Source Routing Machine) format with the additional bannerInstructions in the steps would use the following json:

{"locations":[{"lat":40.730930,"lon":-73.991379},{"lat":40.749706,"lon":-73.991562}],"format":"osrm","costing":"bus","banner_instructions":true,"language":"es-ES"}

Other request options

Other request options description

Options	Description
exclude_locations	A set of locations to exclude or avoid within a route can be specified using a JSON array of avoid_locations. The avoid_locations have the same format as the locations list. At a minimum each avoid location must include latitude and longitude. The avoid_locations are mapped to the closest road or roads and these roads are excluded from the route path computation.
exclude_polygons	One or multiple exterior rings of polygons in the form of nested JSON arrays, e.g. [[[lon1, lat1], [lon2,lat2]],[[lon1,lat1],[lon2,lat2]]]. Roads intersecting these rings will be avoided during path finding. If you only need to avoid a few specific roads, it's much more efficient to use exclude_locations. Valhalla will close open rings (i.e. copy the first coordinate to the last position).
date_time	This is the local date and time at the location. type 0 - Current departure time. 1 - Specified departure time 2 - Specified arrival time. Not yet implemented for multimodal costing method. 3 - Invariant specified time. Time does not vary over the course of the path. Not implemented for multimodal or bike share routing value - the date and time is specified in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm) in the local time zone of departure or arrival. For example "2016-07-03T08:06"
id	Name your route request. If id is specified, the naming will be sent thru to the response.
linear_references	When present and true, the successful route response will include a key linear_references. Its value is an array of base64-encoded OpenLR location references, one for each graph edge of the road network matched by the input trace.
prioritize_bidirectional	Prioritize bidirectional a* when date_time.type = depart_at/current. By default time_dependent_forward a* is used in these cases, but bidirectional a* is much faster. Currently it does not update the time (and speeds) when searching for the route path, but the ETA on that route is recalculated based on the time-dependent speeds
roundabout_exits	A boolean indicating whether exit instructions at roundabouts should be added to the output or not. Default is true.

Outputs of a route

If a route has been named in the request using the optional &id= input, then the name will be returned as a string id on the JSON object.

The route results are returned as a trip. This is a JSON object that contains details about the trip, including locations, a summary with basic information about the entire trip, and a list of legs.

Basic trip information includes:

Trip item description

Trip item	Description
status	Status code.
status_message	Status message.
units	The specified units of length are returned, either kilometers or miles.
language	The language of the narration instructions. If the user specified a language in the directions options and the specified language was supported - this returned value will be equal to the specified value. Otherwise, this value will be the default (en-US) language.
locations	Location information is returned in the same form as it is entered with additional fields to indicate the side of the street.
warnings (optional)	This array may contain warning objects informing about deprecated request parameters, clamped values etc.

The summary JSON object includes:

Summary item description

Summary item	Description
time	Estimated elapsed time to complete the trip.
length	Distance traveled for the entire trip. Units are either miles or kilometers based on the input units specified.
has_toll	Flag indicating if the the path uses one or more toll segments.
has_highway	Flag indicating if the the path uses one or more highway segments.
has_ferry	Flag indicating if the the path uses one or more ferry segments.
min_lat	Minimum latitude of a bounding box containing the route.
min_lon	Minimum longitude of a bounding box containing the route.
max_lat	Maximum latitude of a bounding box containing the route.
max_lon	Maximum longitude of a bounding box containing the route.

Trip legs and maneuvers

A trip contains one or more legs. For n number of break locations, there are n-1 legs. Through locations do not create separate legs.

Each leg of the trip includes a summary, which is comprised of the same information as a trip summary but applied to the single leg of the trip. It also includes a shape, which is an encoded polyline of the route path (with 6 digits decimal precision), and a list of maneuvers as a JSON array.

Each maneuver includes:

Maneuver item description

Maneuver item	Description
type	Type of maneuver. See below for a list.
instruction	Written maneuver instruction. Describes the maneuver, such as "Turn right onto Main Street".
verbal_transition_alert_instruction	Text suitable for use as a verbal alert in a navigation application. The transition alert instruction will prepare the user for the forthcoming transition. For example: "Turn right onto North Prince Street".
verbal_pre_transition_instruction	Text suitable for use as a verbal message immediately prior to the maneuver transition. For example "Turn right onto North Prince Street, U.S. 2 22".
verbal_post_transition_instruction	Text suitable for use as a verbal message immediately after the maneuver transition. For example "Continue on U.S. 2 22 for 3.9 miles".
street_names	List of street names that are consistent along the entire nonobvious maneuver.
begin_street_names	When present, these are the street names at the beginning (transition point) of the nonobvious maneuver (if they are different than the names that are consistent along the entire nonobvious maneuver).
time	Estimated time along the maneuver in seconds.
length	Maneuver length in the units specified.
begin_shape_index	Index into the list of shape points for the start of the maneuver.
end_shape_index	Index into the list of shape points for the end of the maneuver.
toll	True if the maneuver has any toll, or portions of the maneuver are subject to a toll.
highway	True if a highway is encountered on this maneuver.
rough	True if the maneuver is unpaved or rough pavement, or has any portions that have rough pavement.
gate	True if a gate is encountered on this maneuver.
ferry	True if a ferry is encountered on this maneuver.
sign	Contains the interchange guide information at a road junction associated with this maneuver. See below for details.
roundabout_exit_count	The spoke to exit roundabout after entering.
depart_instruction	Written depart time instruction. Typically used with a transit maneuver, such as "Depart: 8:04 AM from 8 St - NYU".
verbal_depart_instruction	Text suitable for use as a verbal depart time instruction. Typically used with a transit maneuver, such as "Depart at 8:04 AM from 8 St - NYU".
arrive_instruction	Written arrive time instruction. Typically used with a transit maneuver, such as "Arrive: 8:10 AM at 34 St - Herald Sq".
verbal_arrive_instruction	Text suitable for use as a verbal arrive time instruction. Typically used with a transit maneuver, such as "Arrive at 8:10 AM at 34 St - Herald Sq".
transit_info	Contains the attributes that describe a specific transit route. See below for details.
verbal_multi_cue	True if the verbal_pre_transition_instruction has been appended with the verbal instruction of the next maneuver.
travel_mode	Travel mode. "drive" "pedestrian" "bicycle" "transit"
travel_type	Travel type for drive. "car" Travel type for pedestrian. "foot" Travel type for bicycle. "road" Travel type for transit. Tram or light rail = "tram" Metro or subway = "metro" Rail = "rail" Bus = "bus" Ferry = "ferry" Cable car = "cable_car" Gondola = "gondola" Funicular = "funicular"
bss_maneuver_type	Used when travel_mode is bikeshare. Describes bike share maneuver. The default value is "NoneAction "NoneAction" "RentBikeAtBikeShare" "ReturnBikeAtBikeShare"

For the maneuver type, the following are available:

kNone = 0;
kStart = 1;
kStartRight = 2;
kStartLeft = 3;
kDestination = 4;
kDestinationRight = 5;
kDestinationLeft = 6;
kBecomes = 7;
kContinue = 8;
kSlightRight = 9;
kRight = 10;
kSharpRight = 11;
kUturnRight = 12;
kUturnLeft = 13;
kSharpLeft = 14;
kLeft = 15;
kSlightLeft = 16;
kRampStraight = 17;
kRampRight = 18;
kRampLeft = 19;
kExitRight = 20;
kExitLeft = 21;
kStayStraight = 22;
kStayRight = 23;
kStayLeft = 24;
kMerge = 25;
kRoundaboutEnter = 26;
kRoundaboutExit = 27;
kFerryEnter = 28;
kFerryExit = 29;
kTransit = 30;
kTransitTransfer = 31;
kTransitRemainOn = 32;
kTransitConnectionStart = 33;
kTransitConnectionTransfer = 34;
kTransitConnectionDestination = 35;
kPostTransitConnectionDestination = 36;
kMergeRight = 37;
kMergeLeft = 38;

The maneuver sign may contain four lists of interchange sign elements as follows:

• exit_number_elements = list of exit number elements. If an exit number element exists, it is typically just one value.
• exit_branch_elements = list of exit branch elements. The exit branch element text is the subsequent road name or route number after the sign.
• exit_toward_elements = list of exit toward elements. The exit toward element text is the location where the road ahead goes - the location is typically a control city, but may also be a future road name or route number.
• exit_name_elements = list of exit name elements. The exit name element is the interchange identifier - typically not used in the US.

Each maneuver sign element includes:

Maneuver sign element item description

Maneuver sign element item	Description
text	Interchange sign text. exit number example: 91B. exit branch example: I 95 North. exit toward example: New York. exit name example: Gettysburg Pike.
consecutive_count	The frequency of this sign element within a set a consecutive signs. This item is optional.

A maneuver transit_info includes:

Maneuver transit route item description

Maneuver transit route item	Description
onestop_id	Global transit route identifier.
short_name	Short name describing the transit route. For example "N".
long_name	Long name describing the transit route. For example "Broadway Express".
headsign	The sign on a public transport vehicle that identifies the route destination to passengers. For example "ASTORIA - DITMARS BLVD".
color	The numeric color value associated with a transit route. The value for yellow would be "16567306".
text_color	The numeric text color value associated with a transit route. The value for black would be "0".
description	The description of the the transit route. For example "Trains operate from Ditmars Boulevard, Queens, to Stillwell Avenue, Brooklyn, at all times. N trains in Manhattan operate along Broadway and across the Manhattan Bridge to and from Brooklyn. Trains in Brooklyn operate along 4th Avenue, then through Borough Park to Gravesend. Trains typically operate local in Queens, and either express or local in Manhattan and Brooklyn, depending on the time. Late night trains operate via Whitehall Street, Manhattan. Late night service is local".
operator_onestop_id	Global operator/agency identifier.
operator_name	Operator/agency name. For example, "BART", "King County Marine Division", and so on. Short name is used over long name.
operator_url	Operator/agency URL. For example, "http://web.mta.info/".
transit_stops	A list of the stops/stations associated with a specific transit route. See below for details.

A transit_stop includes:

Transit stop item description

Transit stop item	Description
type	Type of stop (simple stop=0; station=1).
name	Name of the stop or station. For example "14 St - Union Sq".
arrival_date_time	Arrival date and time using the ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm). For example, "2015-12-29T08:06".
departure_date_time	Departure date and time using the ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm). For example, "2015-12-29T08:06".
is_parent_stop	True if this stop is a marked as a parent stop.
assumed_schedule	True if the times are based on an assumed schedule because the actual schedule is not known.
lat	Latitude of the transit stop in degrees.
lon	Longitude of the transit stop in degrees.

Continuing with the earlier routing example from the Detroit, Michigan area, a maneuver such as this one may be returned with that request: {"begin_shape_index":0,"length":0.109,"end_shape_index":1,"instruction":"Go south on Appleton.","street_names":["Appleton"],"type":1,"time":0}

In the future, look for additional maneuver information to enhance navigation applications, including landmark usage.

HTTP status codes and conditions

The following is a table of HTTP status error code conditions that may occur for a particular request. In general, the service follows the HTTP specification. That is to say that 5xx returns are generally ephemeral server problems that should be resolved shortly or are the result of a bug. 4xx returns are used to mark requests that cannot be carried out, generally due to bad input in the request or problems with the underlying data. A 2xx return is expected when there is a successful route result or trip, as described above.

Status Code description

Status Code	Status	Description
200	your_trip_json	A happy bit of json describing your trip result
400	Failed to parse json request	You need a valid json request
400	Failed to parse location	You need a valid location object in your json request
400	Failed to parse correlated location	There was a problem with the location once correlated to the route network
400	Insufficiently specified required parameter 'locations'	You forgot the locations parameter
400	No edge/node costing provided	You forgot the costing parameter
400	Insufficient number of locations provided	You didn't provide enough locations
400	Exceeded max route locations of X	You are asking for too many locations
400	Locations are in unconnected regions. Go check/edit the map at osm.org	You are routing between regions of no connectivity
400	No costing method found for 'X'	You are asking for a non-existent costing mode
400	Path distance exceeds the max distance limit	You want to travel further than this mode allows
400	No suitable edges near location	There were no edges applicable to your mode of travel near the input location
400	No data found for location	There was no route data tile at the input location
400	No path could be found for input	There was no path found between the input locations
404	Try any of: '/route' '/locate'	You asked for an invalid path
405	Try a POST or GET request instead	We only support GET and POST requests
500	Failed to parse intermediate request format	Had a problem reading an intermediate request format
500	Failed to parse TripPath	Had a problem reading the computed path from Protobuf
500	Could not build directions for TripPath	Had a problem using the trip path to create TripDirections
500	Failed to parse TripDirections	Had a problem using the trip directions to serialize a json response
501	Not implemented	Not Implemented