Solvice Route Optimization and Scheduling API vs Google Routes API

Key takeaways

• Google Routes API is a well-established and popular Route Optimization API, but it doesn’t meet every business's needs.
• When the quality of route optimization and scheduling is most important, and your need goes beyond simple routing questions, Solvice beats Google Routes API. 
• Google’s APIs are more general-purpose, whereas Solvice focuses on solutions for complex optimization scenarios, e.g., last-mile delivery, field service, home health, and other home services.
• The Solvice APIs are also developer-friendly and have excellent customer support.

Google offers route optimization capabilities through its Google Maps Platform, which provides APIs for routing and directions. These APIs enable developers to calculate optimal routes for various transportation modes, considering factors like distance, travel time, and traffic conditions. They are widely used in applications requiring navigation and logistics planning.

Solvice specializes in resource optimization APIs, including route optimization and scheduling. Our services are tailored to complex logistics challenges, offering advanced algorithms to handle intricate routing problems, such as vehicle routing with time windows, capacity constraints, and multiple depots. Solvice’s solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing systems, providing customized optimization for specific business needs.

In summary, while both Google and Solvice offer route optimization services, Google’s APIs are more general-purpose and widely adopted for standard routing needs. In contrast, Solvice focuses on specialized, complex optimization scenarios, providing tailored solutions for intricate logistics challenges.

Google Routes API’s main strengths and weaknesses

Google Routes API Strengths

Google Routes API’s primary strength is its flexibility. Customers can mix and match APIs to create a software solution that suits their needs. For example, you can combine APIs for:

• Geocoding
• Places
• Maps
• Directions

Although its website has a techie Google look, some users report that Google Routes API’s interface is relatively simple and friendly—especially if you’ve never used route planning APIs.

There are also several options for feeding the API with data: Google Routes API offers the usual form-based user interface for experimentation and the possibility to send data through an HTTP POST request or gRPC.

Computing a route matrix is another possibility. Given a list of origins and destinations, the method calculates the distance and duration of a route starting at each origin and ending at each destination.

What users say about Google Routes API:
“I like how concise it is and how it gives me different routes to the same location.. — G2 verified user in accounting, SMB.”

Google Routes API Weaknesses

Google Routes API users report mapping issues, inaccurate geolocation, and connection issues, which is surprising considering that Google Maps is generally considered to be of the highest quality in the market.

Google Routes API is expensive, and pricing is complex. Google Maps APIs are priced on a ”pay-per-use” basis based on the number of “requests” made using the different APIs and SDKs. Although there is a free tier, the cost rises quickly once you use the API at full power (check out detailed pricing here). To help you find the right price, it is recommended that you engage a specialized location intelligence and certified Google Maps reseller like Localyse.

Finally, Google Routes API’s actual route optimization is limited. The maximum allowed number of intermediate waypoints per routes request is 25, which limits the use of the Google Maps platform for this use case to a limited number of small customers.

There are other problems with Google Routes API’s route optimization:

• Customization options are limited compared to competitors, which might be a dealbreaker depending on your specific needs.
• It's not open-source, so you’re bound to use what Google offers, and adjusting it to your peculiar needs might require workarounds or be impossible.
• After Google’s infamous spike in pricing back in 2018, many businesses are cautious of heavily relying on Google Maps services and potentially subjecting themselves to a sudden increase in overall usage costs.

How the Routes API is billed

The Routes API uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model. The Google Maps Platform APIs and SDKs are billed by SKU. Usage is tracked for each SKU, and any API or SDK may have more than one product SKU.

Cost is calculated by SKU usage × Price per use

Pricing for the Routes API

Compute Routes and Compute Route Matrix each have three SKUs that determine the cost of a request. The SKU used to determine the cost is based on the service you request, Compute Routes or Compute Route Matrix, and the features that you use in the request.

For example:

• A request to Compute Routes is billed as a single QUERY.
• A request to Compute Route Matrix is billed per ELEMENT of the request, where the number of elements is equal to the number of origins multiplied by the number of destinations. If a request contains two origins and three destinations, then the single request is billed for six elements.
• A request that uses only basic features and fewer than 11 intermediate waypoints is charged based on the Basic SKU.
• A request that uses an advanced feature, such as the TRAFFIC_AWARE or TRAFFIC_AWARE_OPTIMAL route modifiers, is charged based on the Advanced SKU.
• A request that uses a preferred feature, such as two-wheel routing, is charged based on the Preferred SKU.

Google Routes API alternative: Solvice

Solvice: For the best route optimization in Field Service

Designed for sophisticated scheduling questions

Solvice is designed specifically for all businesses with a deskless workforce delivering goods or services or for software vendors building solutions for this market. Field Service is notoriously the most complex part of the supply chain, and more efficient routing can have a massive impact on profitability.

Based on our testing, we’re confident that Solvice offers much more sophisticated route optimization than Google Routes API.

In particular:

• Advanced Constraints Handling: Manages complex constraints such as vehicle capacities, time windows, driver working hours, and specific customer requirements.
• Multi-Depot and Multi-Day Scheduling: Optimizes routes across multiple depots and schedules over extended periods, accommodating cyclical visits and varying customer demands. Work shifts and jobs spanning multiple days can be handled off the shelf.
• Time-zone support: Automatically schedule across multiple time zones.
• Field Service Optimization: Tailors routes considering technician skills, equipment needs, and service priorities, ensuring the right personnel are assigned to appropriate tasks.
• Real-Time Re-Optimization: Adjusts routes dynamically in response to unforeseen events, maintaining operational efficiency.
• Scalability: Capable of handling large-scale operations, optimizing up to 20,000 orders in a single request.

💡 Want to see for yourself? Check out our 30-day free trial, or contact our onboarding team for an introduction to our more advanced features.

Other advantages of using Solvice

1. Solvice is focused only on delivering results through an API. The solution is fully stateless and offers an easy-to-use API.
2. Solvice customer service is superb, and the customer support team features developers who work on our algorithms and APIs daily.
3. Solvice pricing structure is simple and flexible. The features, including full route optimization, are available on our lowest price tier. Solvice prices per monthly active resource (vehicle/driver), and you can change at will, so you don’t pay for vehicles you don’t use.

Solvice customer reviews

Implementing Solvice into our systems was seamless. Their APIs meshed well with our existing framework, significantly boosting our efficiency and scheduling capabilities. The results were almost immediate – we observed a marked improvement in our route planning and resource scheduling, with decisions being made more quickly and accurately than ever before. Mark G., Product Manager

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The implementation of the Route Optimization API, led by our in-house IT team, was seamless, taking about a month to integrate the API to then build a user-friendly interface. Ole-André R., CTO

Solvice Pricing

Solvice pricing is very straightforward. It is based on the number of resources (vehicles or people) that are scheduled over one month.

• Starts at € 16 per resource per month, with a minimum of 10 resources
• Prices go down for larger volumes, and as of 500 resources, custom pricing is agreed upon

Conclusion on comparing Google Maps Platform and Solvice Route Optimization and Scheduling API

When comparing the route optimization capabilities of Google Maps Platform and Solvice, it’s essential to examine their specific features to determine which solution aligns best with your needs.

Key Differences:

• Complexity and Customization: Solvice excels in managing intricate logistics scenarios with customizable constraints, making it suitable for specialized applications. In contrast, Google’s solution offers robust routing features with a focus on real-time data and general applicability.
• Scalability: Solvice is designed to handle large-scale optimization tasks, whereas Google’s platform is optimized for a broad range of routing needs but may have limitations in extremely large-scale scenarios.
• Industry Focus: Solvice provides tailored solutions for industries like field services, healthcare, home services, and logistics, addressing specific operational challenges. Google’s platform offers versatile routing services applicable across various industries.

In summary, if your requirements involve complex, large-scale route optimization with specific constraints and industry-focused needs, Solvice’s API may be the more appropriate choice. For general routing needs with real-time traffic integration and eco-friendly routing options, Google’s Route Optimization API offers a comprehensive solution.

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NOTE:

Solvice recently opened up their routing engine for high speed route and distance matrix calculation, offering a valid alternative to other distance matrix calculation services.