A look at routable points and approaches
By: Karen Ellenberger & Jay Cox Chapman
Never get picked up in the alley or jaywalk to your ride again with approaches androutable points, the latest features for our Search API and Navigation SDKs.
Routable points — now available in our Search API — ensure that the address you’re routed to is somewhere you can actually reach. For example, using only the address point above routes drivers to the alley behind the building, making it confusing for drivers and passengers to meet. With routable points, the address is snapped to the primary road for the address preventing less-than-ideal drop-off points — like an alley or middle of a runway.
When combined with the new approaches parameter in our Navigation SDK, you can ensure a seamless pick-up and drop-off. The approaches parameter allows a developer to set which side of the road a passenger, parcel, or destination is on, and then request a route for turn-by-turn navigation that approaches in the most convenient way for pickup.
Without a feature like this, the route a driver takes to a passenger can approach from any direction. The passenger might have to cross the street, or the driver is stuck making a U-Turn. Either case wastes time and creates a sub-optimal experience for both passenger and rider. The new approaches feature makes the last few meters of a route especially efficient because it takes into account how the two parties will reach each other.
When the approaches parameter is set to curb, the driver will approach the rider from “the driving side of the road:” (in the US, the right side). When “curb” is not set, then the driver will approach the rider from the non-driving side of the road — or the left side in the United States.
In the scenario above we’ve made the same request, but on the right the approaches parameter is set to curb. This approach allows the rider to hop in the car quickly — no need for the driver to make a dangerous U-turn across a busy street — and each ride gets more efficient and more accessible.
Download our Navigation SDK for Android and iOS and Search API to start building with these features today. Have feedback? Reach out to help@mapbox.com with any questions.
New tools for seamless pick-ups and drop-offs was originally published in Points of interest on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.