Show HN: Routing24 – Free route optimization in the browser

routing24.com

54 points by dennis16384 8 days ago

Hi HN!

I built Routing24 to make route optimization easier and accessible for small businesses and solo drivers.

With Google Maps, you can plan routes between a few locations for free, but it doesn’t support efficient multi-stop planning, handling multiple vehicles, or adding specific business rules like delivery time windows.

Many tools offer route optimization for around $30 per vehicle per month, but Routing24 provides it completely free. Optimization happens fully on the client-side, using your device’s resources instead of cloud servers.

The interface is simple for now: you can import/export using Excel, and there’s a web UI to edit and view imported data and optimized routes. Data is saved or uploaded anywhere, and one browser tab runs one optimization. Map data comes from OpenStreetMap, and the solver is built in C++/WASM, using public domain algorithms.

I’d love to hear any feedback as I keep developing it. Thanks, and I hope it’s useful!

Reubend 7 days ago

Very cool! It's a bit off topic, but I used to enjoy Google's travel app, which had a feature that found the shortest path between many popular tourism destinations in a city. That way as close as I'll personally come to route optimization ;)

  • dennis16384 7 days ago

    Thanks! I just not sure Amazon DSP drivers can use that mobile app from Google with their 300-stops Flex itineraries.

    By the way Routing24 works on mobile, optimizing when offline too. It's just the current app is designed for desktop and route planners. Solver itself works on any 5 y.o. brick with shattered camera like a charm.

    • karussell 7 days ago

      When you say it is working offline, do you mean it fetches the OSM data offline and calculates the distance matrix offline or only the route optimization e.g. for when reordering or adding constraints?

      btw: thanks for using photon for geocoding ;)

      • dennis16384 7 days ago

        Hi there, and thank you for being a Photon contributor! I plan to contribute back OpenAddresses import soon.

        Currently distance/duration matrix is built server-side yes. Eventually this part will be fully local too.

        Working on "tiled" CH first and then CCH. I haven't even investigated patent and license situation around customizable contraction hierarchies yet.

thrw42A8N 7 days ago

Really cool, what about allowing people to code their own rules in JS? So I could code the performance and consumption profile of a truck, for example.

  • dennis16384 7 days ago

    Thanks! Eventually, yes - in any language supported by LLVM.

bulubulu 6 days ago

Nice work! Maybe add one pre-computed route for demo version would be better.

BTW, I was thinking "it must be a German project" when I saw the name xxxx24 and it turns out to be true :)

  • dennis16384 6 days ago

    Thanks! Yes I'm designing landing at the moment to showcase ready optimization results straight away.

    You're right, I must've been living in Germany long enough to have it imprinted in my subconscious :)

MrLeap 7 days ago

This is very cool. What optimization algos are being used?

  • dennis16384 7 days ago

    All from public domain and competitive programming + some proprietary modifications + multithreading is custom too. It's free but not open source yet.

utf_8x 7 days ago

This is awesome! Any plans to open-source it? I would love to get involved.

  • dennis16384 7 days ago

    Yes eventually.

    It will be an open-core model once monetization is figured out.

    With this said, the idea is to have all functionality you see at the moment (and even more in the future) as forever free.

theyknowitsxmas 7 days ago

I still use Basecamp for this kind of stuff.

  • dennis16384 7 days ago

    Do you mean Garmin Basecamp or Basecamp{dot}com?

    • theyknowitsxmas 7 days ago

      Garmin basecamp

      • dennis16384 7 days ago

        Correct me if I'm wrong, but Garmin Basecamp does not do route optimization at all. You can't use it to plan routes for 5 delivery vehicles and throw in some business rules like capacity, orders size, time windows, driver's shifts etc.

        • theyknowitsxmas 7 days ago

          -create a bunch of waypoints

          -select them, create route from selected waypoints

          -then right click your route, Optimize Route

          You can optimize based on car or truck presets (yeah you can't truck everywhere), shortest/fastest, and export GPX. MMS it to drivers etc. The rest are some bells and whistles.

          • dennis16384 7 days ago

            Thanks for clarifying - yes this looks like single-vehicle TSP without any business rules/side constraints. Not usable for many vehicles either.

            • theyknowitsxmas 7 days ago

              Sure, but r24 ignores road restrictions and outputs spreadsheets (lol) instead of proper GPX.

              • dennis16384 7 days ago

                Both sounds like proper features which are not covered yet, thanks for your input!

                I already have support for >1 vehicle profiles that uses more than 1 distance/duration matrix for different vehicle types.

                This is a wider subject however, that includes road closures and time-dependent access. Also truck routing attributes have questionable quality in default OSM, therefor we do not specifically advertise truck routing for now.

                I'll definitely consider an option to have GPX export when will be implementing dispatching to drivers in the future.

                However it is always better to dispatch to your own mobile app and call external navigation for point-to-point route, this is a more standard use case rather than opening a multi-stop route directly in navigation app.