Overview#
A dispatcher receives a cardiac arrest call. She needs to know which of three nearby units can reach the address fastest, given current road conditions, not which one looks closest on the map. The Routing domain calculates that answer in real time: it computes turn-by-turn driving directions, accurate ETAs, and a distance matrix across all available unit positions at once, so the dispatcher can confirm the assignment in seconds. The same engine handles hospital transport with multi-waypoint stops and supports route matrix analysis for station placement reviews.
Key Features#
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Turn-by-Turn Navigation: Generate detailed step-by-step driving directions with distance and duration metrics to guide emergency units to their destination along the optimal path.
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ETA Calculation: Produce accurate estimated time of arrival based on the road network and conditions, enabling dispatchers to make informed unit selection decisions.
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Multi-Waypoint Routing: Calculate optimised routes through multiple stops for complex dispatch scenarios such as hospital transport with equipment pickup or multi-scene responses.
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Route Matrix Operations: Compute distances and durations between multiple origins and destinations in a single request, enabling rapid comparison of unit positions relative to an incident.
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Nearest Unit Detection: Identify which emergency unit can reach an incident fastest based on actual road network distances rather than straight-line approximations.
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Global Coverage: Routing calculations work worldwide using comprehensive road network data, supporting operations in any geographic region.
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Multiple Distance Units: Results are provided in metres, kilometres, miles, and feet to accommodate different operational preferences and reporting requirements.
Use Cases#
Real-world routing by road network, rather than straight-line distance, is essential in time-critical operations. Industries served include emergency services, logistics, and urban transit management.
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Emergency Dispatch: Quickly determine which available unit is closest to an incident by actual driving distance and time rather than by map proximity alone.
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Hospital Transport: Calculate the fastest route to the nearest appropriate medical facility, factoring in real road conditions and facility availability.
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Resource Deployment: Plan multi-stop routes for unit repositioning, supply delivery, or scene-to-scene movement during large-scale incidents.
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Operational Planning: Use route matrix analysis to evaluate station placement, coverage areas, and response time performance across a jurisdiction.
Integration#
The Routing domain supports coordinated dispatch and operations across the platform:
- Dispatch: Route calculations feed directly into unit recommendation and assignment workflows
- Vehicle Telemetry: Real-time vehicle positions serve as route origins for ETA calculations
- Unified Command: Multi-waypoint routing supports complex incident logistics
- Mapping: Route geometry displays on operational maps for situational awareness
Open Standards#
- GeoJSON (RFC 7946): Route geometry is returned as a GeoJSON LineString feature, and all coordinate arrays throughout the API follow the RFC 7946
[longitude, latitude]ordering convention. - WGS 84 (EPSG:4326): All geographic coordinates accepted and emitted by the routing engine use the World Geodetic System 1984 datum, consistent with GPS and global mapping infrastructure.
- OpenStreetMap Open Database Licence (ODbL 1.0): Road network data powering route calculations is derived from the OpenStreetMap dataset, distributed under the Open Database Licence.
- OGC Simple Features: Geometry types used for route shapes (LineString, coordinate sequences) conform to OGC Simple Features Access conventions, ensuring interoperability with GIS consumers.
- GraphQL (June 2018 specification): All routing operations, including route calculation, multi-waypoint routing, route matrix, and nearest-unit queries, are exposed exclusively through a GraphQL schema.
- OAuth 2.0 / JSON Web Tokens (RFC 6749 / RFC 7519): Every routing mutation is protected by the platform's bearer-token authentication layer, which issues and validates signed JWTs to authorise access.
- SI / Imperial measurement conventions (ISO 80000-3): Results are expressed in SI-coherent units (metres, kilometres, seconds) alongside Imperial equivalents (miles, feet, minutes), matching operational reporting requirements across jurisdictions.
Last Reviewed: 2026-02-24 Last Updated: 2026-04-14