It is hard to believe that we have been developing the open-source routing and navigation software Valhalla for 2 years now! It is also extremely gratifying to see that after 2 years, the primary design tenets behind Valhalla still hold true. Tile-based data, use of dynamic, run-time costing, emphasis on guidance and mobile use, and so much more…
Highlights of our past work
Valhalla Open Source Routing
Why Tiles?
Introducing Valhalla
Dynamic Costing
Elevation
Valhalla Bicycle Route Options
Elevation-Infuenced Bicycle Routing
Shaping Up Your Route Guidance
Transit Routing
Voice Guidance
Speed Tiles and Traffic-Influenced Routing
Country Specific Access Restrictions
Time-Distance Matrix
Optimized Routing
Customize Mapzen Turn-by-Turn Narrative Language
DIY Valhalla
Mapzen Isochrone
Valhalla 2.0
This week we have designated the latest packaged release as Valhalla 2.0. (This is transparent to users of Mapzen Turn-By-Turn service and all the Mobility products – users do not need to make any changes other than to enjoy faster responses and more features!)
We made several key enhancements to Valhalla, in particular to its tiled data. These changes include:
- Update the highway hierarchy such that edges are only stored on the hierarchy level they are assigned to. Motorways, for instance, are now represented only on the highway hierarchy. In prior versions of Valhalla, motorways existed on each hierarchy: highway, arterial, and local. This change decreases data size and facilitates several new features: complex, via-way restrictions and traffic integration.
- Support memory mapping of tar’d Valhalla graph tile extracts. This improves caching and concurrent performance. The option of using individual graph tiles as files that are read into cache still exists for deployments where tighter control of memory use is required.
- Redesigned several data structures within the graph tiles to allow for future growth without breaking backward-compatibility. Slots for additional attribution and data structures have been added to the tile definition and spare fields within existing structures will allow incremental additions.
- Development of new features continues. Isochrones are officially supported with this release. Map-matching features are in development and should be ready soon.
The Valhalla Team
So what does the development team have to say about this milestone?
Dave Nesbitt
“It has been fun to see the software develop through time and grow-up. I think we now have a nearly full set of features to support routing, navigation, and analysis applications. I am particularly excited to see where we can take this in the mobile and embedded navigation space.”
Duane Gearhart
“I am proud of the open services that we have created and the partnerships we have formed over the past two years. I am looking forward to extending mobile navigation and improving our services including user accessibility.”
Greg Knisely
“I am very excited to see the use of complex (via-way) restrictions within the path finding algorithms. This will greatly enhance the user experience by properly using turn restrictions that were previously not included in the path finding. Valhalla 2.0 will enable us to continue to enhance our products and services and in turn provide more accurate results to our customers.”
Kevin Kreiser
“Man muss nicht müssen… wir aber doch!”
Kristen DiLuca
“Amazing…so many accomplishments in such a short period of time! I’m so proud of the work that has gone into making our products and services. Being part of the open community really allows us to build awesome routing and navigation software, while listening and responding effectively to the needs of our users.”
Check out the Mapzen Turn-by-Turn documentation and let us know if you have any questions.