FAQ | Help | PTV Developer

Account

How can I start using the PTV Developer APIs?

You need to sign up for a PTV account and then activate your free subscription of PTV Developer. If you already have a PTV account, you can directly activate your free product. No payment details are needed to activate your free product.

Can I activate more than one free subscription?

No. Every account can only activate one free subscription of PTV Developer but multiple paid subscriptions.

Where can I update my personal data?

You can use the avatar menu on the top right corner to reach the Manage Profile section and update your personal information.

Where can I delete my account?

In the Manage Profile section you have the possibility to delete your account. Please note that you can only delete your account if no subscription is active.

Developer Support

How can I generate API keys to start developing?

Within your product instance you can create, rename and delete API keys in the API Keys App.

How many API keys can I create using a free subscription?

For the free subscription one API key is included. If you need more API keys, upgrade your subscription in the My Subscription App or contact us to find a solution that fits best to your needs.

How do I use the API keys?

The API keys are needed to authenticate against PTV Developer APIs. Check the Quick Start of the API documentations for more details on the authentication options.

How can I run performance tests on PTV Developer APIs?

If you want to run performance or load tests please contact us to find a solution.

How can I generate client classes for PTV Developer APIs?

The API specification of each PTV Developer API is available as OpenApi document of version 3 in JSON format. Each API documentation contains a download link for its specification on the API Reference page. An OpenAPI document can be used as a basis for different tools that generate client classes in various target languages. Using client classes makes it easier and more convenient to integrate the API into an existing programming environment. Currently, we recommend to use a patched version of OpenAPI Generator. This patched tool supports the client generators java (precisely Java 11), csharp-netcore (precisely .NET Core 3.1) and typescript-fetch. Please note that OpenAPI Generator needs in any case a Java runtime installation (at least Java 8).

How to use the patched tool with NPM?

The following steps describe how to use the patched tool with the help of PTV Developer Routing API as an example:

Put the API specification of PTV Developer Routing API as file openapi.json into the subdirectory routing of your working directory.

Put this content as file openapitools.json into your working directory:

 {
  "$schema": "node_modules/@openapitools/openapi-generator-cli/config.schema.json",
  "spaces": 2,
  "generator-cli": {
    "version": "5.0.2",
    "repository": {
      "downloadUrl": "https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/github/ptv-logistics/openapi-generator-cli/5.0.2/openapi-generator-cli-5.0.2.jar"
    }
  }
}

Put these scripts as file package.json into your working directory:

 {
  "name": "@ptvgroup/developer-api-clients",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "scripts": {
    "generate-dotnet": "openapi-generator-cli generate --generator-name csharp-netcore --additional-properties=targetFramework=netcoreapp3.1,useDateTimeOffset=true,optionalEmitDefaultValues=false --global-property apis,apiTests=false,models,modelTests=false,supportingFiles",
    "generate-typescript": "openapi-generator-cli generate --generator-name typescript-fetch --additional-properties=typescriptThreePlus=true --global-property apis,apiTests=false,models,modelTests=false,supportingFiles",
    "generate-java": "openapi-generator-cli generate --generator-name java --additional-properties=java8=true,dateLibrary=java8,library=native --global-property apis,apiTests=false,models,modelTests=false,supportingFiles --type-mappings=AnyType=Object"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@openapitools/openapi-generator-cli": "2.1.22"
  }
}

Execute npm install @openapitools/openapi-generator-cli in your working directory.

Execute one of these commands in your working directory to generate the client classes for the target language of your choice:

npm run generate-dotnet -- --input-spec ./routing/openapi.json --output ./routing/dotnet-client --additional-properties=packageName=PTVGroup.Developer.Clients.Routing
npm run generate-typescript -- --input-spec ./routing/openapi.json --output ./routing/typescript-client
npm run generate-java -- --input-spec ./routing/openapi.json --output ./routing/java-client --additional-properties=apiPackage=com.ptvgroup.developer.client.routing.api,modelPackage=com.ptvgroup.developer.client.routing.model,invokerPackage=com.ptvgroup.developer.client.routing

How to use the patched tool with Maven 3?

The following steps describe how to use the patched tool with the help of PTV Developer Routing API as an example using Maven 3.3.4 or above:

Create a Maven 3 project and put the API specification of PTV Developer Routing API as file openapi.json into the subdirectory src/main/resources/routing of your project.

Add this plugin execution to the plugins section of your POM and build it with Maven. Then, the patched plugin will be fetched from the Maven Central Repository and will generate a Maven project containing client classes for Java 11:

<plugin>
    <groupId>com.github.ptv-logistics</groupId>
    <artifactId>openapi-generator-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>5.0.2</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>java-client-routing</id>
            <goals>
                <goal>generate</goal>
            </goals>
            <phase>generate-sources</phase>
            <configuration>
                <inputSpec>${project.basedir}/src/main/resources/routing/openapi.json</inputSpec>
                <output>${project.build.directory}/java-client/routing</output>
                <generatorName>java</generatorName>
                <generateApiTests>false</generateApiTests>
                <generateModelTests>false</generateModelTests>
                <typeMappings>AnyType=Object</typeMappings>
                <configOptions>
                    <java8>true</java8>
                    <dateLibrary>java8</dateLibrary>
                    <library>native</library>
                    <invokerPackage>com.ptvgroup.developer.client.routing</invokerPackage>
                    <apiPackage>com.ptvgroup.developer.client.routing.api</apiPackage>
                    <modelPackage>com.ptvgroup.developer.client.routing.model</modelPackage>
                </configOptions>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

For the initial generation the compilation will fail because of missing dependencies. For successful compilation, copy all dependencies of default scope from the POM in directory target/java-client/routing to your project POM or use the generated Maven project as a whole for further development.

How can I avoid 404 (Not Found) error codes even though my url seems to be ok?

If the endpoint requires a parameter in the path and this parameter is missing you will get a http response code 404 (Not Found) even if the rest of the url is correct. You have to add the required parameter to the url in order to get a successful response or an error message with more details if something else is wrong with the parameter.

Licensing & Terms

Can I use a free subscription for productive/commercial use of my application?

The free subscription is only for testing and integration purposes. If you want to roll out your application for commercial use, you need to upgrade your subscription in the My Subscription App or contact us to talk about it and find a solution that fits best to your needs.

What are the terms of use?

You can find the terms of use for different regions by using the according link below.

EU - English
EU - German
US - English

How are transactions calculated?

To measure the transactions 1k packages are used as measurement unit for the usage of different API categories.

1k transactions correspond to...	API
1,000 individual positions or addresses	Geocoding & Places API
15,000 data or image tiles 5,000 satellite tiles	Raster Maps API
15,000 map tiles	Vector Maps API
1,000 routes 500 reachable areas or locations	Routing API
1,000 matrix relations	Matrix Routing API
5,000 positions of a tracking request	Map Matching API
16 requests with less than 50 transports 8 requests with less than 100 transports 4 requests with less than 200 transports 2 requests with less than 400 transports 1 request with 400 transports or more	Route Optimization API
64 requests with less than 25 transports 32 requests with less than 50 transports 16 requests with less than 100 transports 8 requests with less than 200 transports 4 request with 500 transports or more	Sequence Optimization API
1,000 bins	Loading Space Optimization API

What are request limits?

Request limits define a maximum amount of objects in a single call of the services (e.g. number of waypoints per routing request). If the limits are reached it is recommended to split up the amount of objects into multiple requests. Note that for the Geocoding & Places API, Raster Maps API, Vector Maps API and Data API there are no request limits because the endpoints handle only single objects (map tiles, addresses or coordinates).

Find the request limits per service in the table below.

API	Request limit
Geocoding & Places API	-
Raster Maps API	-
Vector Maps API	-
Routing API	25 waypoints per request
Matrix Routing API	250,000 matrix relations per synchronous request 4,000,000 matrix relations per asynchronous request
Map Matching API	16,200 positions per request
Route Optimization API	3,000 transports per request
Sequence Optimization API	500 transports per request
Loading Space Optimization API	2 bins / 100 items per synchronous request 100 bins / 10,000 items per asynchronous request
Data API	-

Please note that other limits apply to the free version of PTV Developer which can be seen on the activation page.

What are rate limits?

Rate limits are the number of requests per given time period a single API key can make. If those limits are exceeded additional requests will be rejected.

Find the rate limits per service in the table below.

API	Rate limit
Geocoding & Places API	600 requests per minute
Raster Maps API	getSatelliteTile: 2,500 requests per minute all other operations: 10,000 requests per minute
Vector Maps API	10,000 requests per minute
Routing API	300 requests per minute
Matrix Routing API	calculateMatrix: 20 requests per minute startMatrixCalculation: 50 requests per minute getStatus: 3,000 requests per minute all other operations: 100 requests per minute
Map Matching API	300 requests per minute
Route Optimization API	startOptimization: 50 requests per minute getOperationStatus: 3,000 requests per minute all other operations: 100 requests per minute
Sequence Optimization API	startAndCreateOptimizedRoute: 50 requests per minute getOptimizedRoute: 3,000 requests per minute all other operations: 100 requests per minute
Loading Space Optimization API	packBins: 20 requests per minute startBinPacking: 50 requests per minute getStatus: 3,000 requests per minute all other operations: 100 requests per minute
Data API	300 requests per minute