01 / Overview

Plan Journeys. Compare Travel Times.

Google Maps Routes API calculates routes, distances, and estimated travel times. Use it to help people choose a journey, find a reachable location, or compare who can get to a job.

Two Ways To Answer A Travel Question

Conceptual Overview

Compute Routes

How Do I Get There?

Origin + destination + optional stops
↓
A route, journey details, and travel estimate

Compute Route Matrix

Which Location Makes Sense?

Origins × destinations
↓
Travel times and distances for each pair

The API supplies routing information. Your application presents the choices and applies business rules. Travel times are estimates.

Documentation: Compute Routes · Compute Route Matrix

02 / Core Features

From A Route To A Useful Journey

Select the details your experience needs, from a simple travel estimate to a route with stops and alternatives.

Journey Details

Routes And Directions

Return a route line for display, distance, duration, and legs and steps that describe the journey. Useful for appointment directions and trip previews.

User Choice

Alternative Routes

Offer up to three alternatives alongside the default route when available. Alternatives require a journey without intermediate stops and are unavailable in Route Matrix.

Waypoint Ordering

Stops In A Better Order

Reorder intermediate stops while keeping the origin and final destination fixed. Useful for a technician visiting several sites or a courier completing a small round.

Trip Preferences

Route Preferences

Request avoidance of tolls, highways, or ferries where supported. Heading and side-of-road options help express how a vehicle approaches a pickup or drop-off.

Documentation: Journey Details · Alternatives · Stop Ordering · Route Options

03 / Traffic And Travel Modes

Match The Estimate To The Journey

Traffic settings let you balance response speed with the amount of traffic analysis. Travel mode changes both the route and the options available.

Traffic Settings For Supported Road Travel Modes
Traffic Preference	What It Does	Example Fit
Traffic Unaware	Ignores current traffic; prioritizes a fast response.	An initial distance or approximate journey comparison.
Traffic Aware	Includes traffic with optimizations for response speed.	A booking flow or a list of nearby service providers.
Traffic Aware Optimal	Performs a more extensive traffic-aware route search, with higher latency.	A detailed journey decision before departure.

For a future departure, historical patterns become more influential as the departure time moves farther away. A traffic-aware duration is an estimate for the requested conditions; loading, service time, and customer delays must be added by your application.

Driving And Two-Wheel Travel

Driving supports road journeys. Motorized two-wheel routing is a distinct mode with regional coverage; it is not bicycle routing.

Walking, Cycling, And Transit

Transit can include stops, lines, arrival/departure times, and walking connections. Preferences can favor less walking or fewer transfers. Transit does not support intermediate waypoints or driving traffic preferences.

Documentation: Traffic Settings · Transit · Travel Modes And Warnings

04 / Route Matrix

Compare Reachability Across Locations

Compute Route Matrix returns the travel distance and duration for each origin–destination pair. Use those results to rank candidates before planning a selected journey.

Find A Convenient Branch

Compare travel times from a customer to candidate stores, clinics, or pickup points. Your application can then filter for opening hours, stock, or appointment availability.

Support Dispatch Decisions

Compare eligible workers or depots with job locations. Combine travel estimates with your own skills, capacity, shifts, and service rules before making an assignment.

Choose The Method For The Decision
You Need	Use	Result
Travel Times Across Candidates	Compute Route Matrix	One distance and duration per origin–destination pair.
A Selected Journey With Directions	Compute Routes	Route geometry and requested journey details.
Assignments Across Vehicles	Route Optimization API	A separate service for fleet planning with objectives and constraints.

Documentation: Matrix Use Cases · Limits And Errors · Fleet Optimization

05 / Use Cases

Put Routing Into Everyday Decisions

These are illustrative application patterns. The business decision combines Routes API results with information your organization already owns.

Matrix → Route

Delivery And Pickup

Compare depots to a delivery address, then calculate the chosen journey. Add inventory, preparation time, and loading time before showing a delivery window.

Travel Time + Eligibility

Field Service

Rank qualified technicians by travel time, then calculate their journey or order a set of stops. Keep skills, shifts, and appointment windows in your scheduling logic.

Reachability

Store And Branch Finding

Sort a shortlist by travel time instead of straight-line proximity. Show opening hours and availability alongside the journey estimate.

Journey Planning

Travel And Hospitality

Help guests compare arrival options and preview directions. Transit details can explain transfers and the walk from a station to a venue.

Trip Preview

Ride Booking And Transfers

Estimate the trip and show available route choices before booking. Your service still supplies vehicle availability, pricing, matching, and live trip operations.

Accessibility Analysis

Location Evaluation

Compare travel times from a defined set of customer or service areas to candidate sites. Test multiple departure times; combine the result with demand and site-specific evidence.

Documentation: Route Capabilities · Comparisons · Transit Details

06 / Worked Example

Choose A Depot, Then Plan The Trip

A dispatcher has two eligible depots and three delivery jobs. Compare the travel times first, then check inventory and capacity before selecting a depot.

Illustrative Travel Times · 2 Origins × 3 Destinations = 6 Elements
Origin	Job A	Job B	Job C
North Depot	12 min	24 min	18 min
South Depot	20 min	10 min	16 min

1. Compare

North is quicker for A; South is quicker for B and C. These are pairwise travel estimates, not a complete delivery schedule.

2. Apply Business Rules

If South lacks stock for C, North may be the feasible choice despite its longer trip. Do not select the smallest number without checking eligibility.

3. Request The Journey

Use Compute Routes for the chosen origin and destination. Add stop ordering only when planning a compatible journey with several stops.

Illustrative Output · No Request Executed

For Job C, select North when South has no stock. Estimated driving time: 18 minutes. With an assumed 8-minute preparation time, the application estimates 26 minutes before arrival, excluding other delays.

18 + 8 = 26 minutes. Routes API supplies the travel component; the application supplies preparation time. No fleet-wide assignment has been solved.

Documentation: Pairwise Results · Stop Ordering

07 / Specialized Features

Add Detail Where It Changes The Choice

Use advanced features for a specific decision, and confirm their availability and billing before including them in a production experience.

Coverage Dependent

Toll Estimates

Estimate tolls in supported locations using relevant pass information. Useful when comparing trip costs. An unknown toll amount must remain unknown; the documented estimated prices apply to non-commercial vehicles and can differ for commercial vehicles.

Preview

Eco-Friendly Routes

Compare a fuel- or energy-efficient driving route with the default route, based on engine type. Available in supported regions and marked Preview. Not supported by Route Matrix; modeled fuel estimates are for comparison, not exact consumption for a particular vehicle.

Route Visualization

Traffic Along The Route

Request traffic information associated with the route polyline to help explain where congestion occurs. Your map experience renders the returned information.

Restricted Customer Access

Large-Vehicle Routing

Use vehicle dimensions, weight, and hazardous-material attributes for truck-specific routes and ETAs. Access is limited to provisioned customers. Coverage: contiguous 48 United States (GA) and Japan (Experimental). Truck toll prices are unsupported.

Documentation: Tolls · Eco-Friendly Routing · Polylines · Large-Vehicle Access And Limits

08 / Product Fit

Connect Planning To The Rest Of Your App

Routes API is the calculation layer. Other products and your own application supply discovery, presentation, navigation, and operating rules.

A Typical Application Has Several Responsibilities
Requirement	Where It Belongs
Calculate A Journey Or Compare Travel Times	Routes API: Compute Routes and Compute Route Matrix.
Find A Place Or Capture A Destination	Your location records or a place-search/address-entry experience. Pass the selected location into routing.
Display The Route	A map integration renders the route geometry. Follow Routes API display and attribution policies.
Guide A Driver During The Trip	Navigation SDK supplies an in-app navigation experience; returning route steps alone does not create that experience.
Allocate Jobs Across A Fleet	Route Optimization API models fleet objectives and constraints. Your operating systems supply jobs, vehicles, and rules.

Documentation: Display And Attribution · Navigation Integration · Route Optimization

09 / Getting Started

Start With One Decision And A Small Pilot

Choose a use case, confirm the required features, and test representative journeys before expanding the integration.

Define The Input And Output

Provide locations as place IDs, addresses, or coordinates. Specify a travel mode and relevant options. A required field mask selects the response fields your application needs.

Set Up Access

Enable Routes API and billing in a Google Cloud project; use an API key or OAuth token. Call the service through REST or gRPC with the appropriate request and response handling.

Estimate Usage Before Estimating Cost
Billing Unit	What To Count
Compute Routes	Each route request.
Compute Route Matrix	Origin–destination elements: 10 origins × 20 destinations = 200 elements.

Features determine the applicable Essentials, Pro, or Enterprise SKU. Traffic-aware requests, waypoint optimization, and certain other features raise the billing tier. Compute Routes allows up to 25 intermediate waypoints. Use the current pricing documentation for rates and regional eligibility.

Documentation: Request Overview · Billing And Quotas · Matrix Error Handling

Documentation reviewed September 14, 2026. This guide explains features and application patterns; the worked example is illustrative.