Depending on the use case and when to travel the route calculation will take different data into account. This is selected by the options[trafficMode] and the date and time. By default, when none of these parameters are specified, the Routing API will automatically calculate the most realistic route and travel time for the route starting now.
Realistic
Return the most realistic route and travel time for the given exact time (or now if not specified) and the selected vehicle. The typical and the live traffic situation are taken into account. Toll will be calculated according to the prices valid exactly when passing the toll roads.
Use this traffic mode
- when starting now or within the next minutes or at most very few hours in order to get the best route and travel time for that,
- when planning to travel in the near future knowing exactly when to start in order to find the best route including deviations due to road works.
As live traffic data changes frequently, the route calculation result may change when executing the same request at a different point in time.
Traffic Delay
The response parameter trafficDelay contains the total delay due to live traffic for the complete route, leg or alternative route which may be 0 when the route is not affected by live traffic, at all.
For each section of the route where live traffic data applies, the delay is calculated comparing the travel time for that section with and without live traffic. That means the delay contains the time that it takes longer to pass the traffic jam than usually at the same time and the same day of week. As an example, driving a section on a highway between two exits usually takes 15 minutes on an average Friday afternoon at 4 pm, but due to a road works there is a traffic jam on this specific Friday afternoon at 4 pm, and driving this section takes 30 minutes. The delay will be 15 minutes.
Consequently, the delay of a traffic jam during the rush hour may be smaller compared to a similar traffic jam outside the rush hour. This is due to the fact that longer travel times during the rush hours in the mornings and evenings are considered as typical traffic. When driving the section above on a Sunday at 10 am usually takes only 10 minutes, but on this specific Sunday at 10 am it takes 30 minutes due to the traffic jam, the delay will be 20 minutes.
Average
Return the average route and travel time for the selected vehicle. Neither start nor arrival time are necessary, but there is an influence on the results when specified:
- The average traffic situation is taken into account resulting in a route typical for that day of week and time of day.
- Seasonal closures (for example mountain passes during winter season) and regular time-dependent restrictions will be respected if these restrictions are active when the vehicle would pass such roads.
- Toll will be calculated according to the prices valid exactly when passing the toll roads according to the time specified.
Without a start or arrival time, neither the average traffic situation, nor seasonal closures or other time-dependent restrictions can be taken into account. Toll prices will be calculated on an average Monday at noon in order to improve the results where there are time-dependent tariffs.
Use this traffic mode with start or arrival time
- when planning to travel in the future knowing exactly when to start in order to find the probably best route and how long it will take,
- in order to find out the best route and travel time on some specific day of week and time of day, e.g. when traveling the route regularly at a different time of day, or as a commuter,
- in order to calculate or verify toll for a route recently driven.
Use this traffic mode without start or arrival time
- when planning to travel in the future not knowing when to start but to get an idea of how long the route and the travel time are,
- in order to calculate the average distance and travel time between two cities.
The route calculation result will be the same when executing the same request at a different point in time, but it may change after updating data.
Use this traffic mode with the toll time
- to change the aforementioned reference time for toll calculation,
- to get a forecast on future toll prices. See also the concept on toll for more information.
Examples
Example 1: The seasonal closure at Passo Stelvio is only considered in the route calculation, if the start or arrival time is set in a way that the vehicle would pass this road when the restriction is active, that means from November till end of May.  | Example 2: Morning (7.00 to 9.30) and evening (16.00 to 20.00) rush hour restrictions in Rueil-Malmaison, Paris for vehicles above 5.5 tonnes. Without a start or arrival time, these will be ignored.  |
Traffic Delay
The response parameter trafficDelay is always 0 as live traffic is not taken into account.
Try it in the Traffic Modes code sample.