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HOW TO FIND THE BEST ROUTE? A COMPARISON OF ROUTE SEARCHING SERVICES
Abstract
Route search engines are essential tools in online applications that address a wide range of user needs. However, the distribution of such applications and simple search engines presents a diverse landscape with different outputs for the same routing tasks. Although they rely on well-established algorithms, the use of different datasets often leads to different results. This paper aims to compare selected route search engines, investigate the differences in their outputs, and provide useful recommendations to users. Prague and Adelaide were chosen as test environments due to their different characteristics. The performance, route characteristics, and recommended routes of major search engines such as Bing Maps, Google Directions, TomTom, Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM), and OpenRouteService were evaluated and compared with Google Directions serving as the baseline for statistical analysis and comparison due to its extensive community use. This research highlights the key role of real-time traffic data in route discovery, particularly in large cities. Notably, the testing was conducted during peak and off-peak hours, revealing significant differences not only in response times for individual services, where Bing Maps and TomTom exhibited the highest disparities in response times, up to 76 %, but also when comparing individual routes during the different hours resulting in up to a 16% decrease in travel times. In contrast, OSRM and OpenRouteService were unable to accommodate real-time traffic data. In addition, statistical analysis revealed interesting patterns of significance correlated with specific locations within the tested cities. While TomTom continues to be recommended for online services due to its reliable data sources and consistent outputs, OSRM emerges as the preferred choice in response times, offering optimal results. By shedding light on these nuances, this paper increases transparency in the understanding of route finders and allows users to make informed decisions, determining whether or not the choice of route finders is important. It highlights how crucial it is to select a preferred service based on effectiveness and comprehensive support for different modes of transport.
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