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Design for Driving Directions

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by manmohan74 1 view

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I have been trying to figure out for a while how driving directions (maps.yahoo.com) kind of design is built. I did think of the following

1. Use longitues and latitudes and sync up with some GIS software to device driving directions/distance.

2. Use some kind of PERT/CPM technique and interface with any existing GIS software.

and the list goes on. None of my approaches made much logical sense to me.

I do know this a tough question to pose and to expecting one line answer. I would really appreciate if anyone can lead me in the correct direction. It has been at the back of my mind for a long long time.

Driving directions logic facinates me how everything is built and tied together to arrive at driving directions/distance and related activites.

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by dryflies

a map is a network with segments and nodes just like the internet. all of the map services use "path analysis" to identify the best route from node a to node B. only the start and end segments use lat/long to identify them. those particular ones identify the segment they are on and the distance to the closest node using lat long. after that, a number of possible paths are determined using patyh analysis. the path with the best score is identified and returned. that path is highlighted by tracing the segments.

here is a link to info on path analysis:
http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/path.htm

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