Route Analysis

Running a Route Analysis

Set up a Route Analysis after completing an Origin and Destination (O/D) analysis, including selecting O/D pairs, analyzing routes, and viewing completed analyses.

You must run an Origin and Destination analysis before running a Route Analysis.

Once your O/D analysis is complete, select the O/D Matrix tab.
From any matrix, select the cell that corresponds to the O/D pair you would like to look into.
Note:
Route Analysis is not available for routes where the Origin is the same as the Destination because Route Analysis only considers the roads taken upon exit of the Origin and entry to the Destination.
Click Analyze routes on the left-hand panel.
1. The right side panel automatically switches to the Route Analysis tab and displays your Analysis Queue; your O/D pair is displayed here.
If this is the only pair you would like to analyze, select Run Route Analysis at the top of the panel. If you would like to run multiple route analyzes at once, follow steps 1 through 3 again until you have selected all pairs, then select Run Route Analysis.
Note:
Selecting all pairs you want to analyze at once will allow each analysis to run in parallel and save on run time.
Once you have started your analysis, the O/D pairs will move to the In Progress tab, then finally the Completed tab once the analysis is complete. Depending on the number of possible routes between your O and D, as well as the number of pairs you are analyzing, this process may take several minutes to over an hour to complete.
Once the O/D pairs have moved to the Completed tab, click View to view the Route Analysis.

When running a Route Analysis, review flagged cells on the Matric view to understand which ones have a queued, in progress or completed analysis.


	Route Analysis Queued
	Route Analysis In Progress
	Route Analysis Completed

Route Analysis tabs

View a detailed examination of the Route Analysis tabs, including the Overview and Variants tabs, which display various metrics and route variations for analyzed Origin & Destination pairs.

Once you have selected the Route or Road Segment you wish to look into for your Route Analysis results, toggle between the Overview and Variants tab to look further into the data.

Overview

The Overview tab displays several metrics from your analysis: Journey Count, Vehicle Class Breakdown, Origins, Destinations, Connectors, Vocation Breakdown, and Industry Breakdown.


Metric	Description
Journey Count	The number of journeys between the O/D pair that met the criteria of your analysis.
Route Analysis	The routes selected for an analysis between Origin and Destination. Click to view the Route Analysis queue.
Expansion Factors	The general expansion factor at a state level. Reference Locations are provided where available for closer estimates at a local level.
Origins, Connectors, and Destinations	The number of Origins, Connectors, and Destinations, respectively, that were included in the O/D analysis.
Vehicle Class	A pie chart that represents the percentage of journeys in your analysis that were performed by each vehicle class.
Vocation Breakdown	A pie chart that represents the percentage of journeys in your analysis that had each vocation.
Industry Breakdown	A pie chart that represents the percentage of journeys by industry as defined by the primary NAICS code. The primary NAICS code is determined by the fleet operating the vehicle that is contributing to the data.

Variants

For each Origin and Destination (O/D) pair analyzed through Route Analysis, there may be one or many routes returned, depending on the O/D pair and the input, Route Grouping Threshold. The Route Grouping Threshold refers to the percentage of two routes that needs to be the same for them to be grouped together as a single route; this is done for the similar routes to be counted as a single representative route. To account for the possibility of multiple flows being counted as a single route, variant attributes are used to capture the variations on the main route for all included routes. The most common variant forms the basis of the main route returned, and all the other variants are returned as an array against the main route.

For example: An O/D pair analysis is executed with an 80% route grouping threshold. The O/D pair has three journeys with each covering 90% the same route, except for a small stretch of road where two journeys take one deviation, and the third journey takes another. The first deviation will be called Route 1, and the second deviation will be called Route 2. The main route will be the traffic flow from the edge of the Origin zone to the edge of the Destination, followed by the majority of journeys (Route 1). The stretch where there is variability from the remaining journey(s) (Route 2) is captured as a variant of Route 1.

If a user would not like any grouping (setting a route grouping threshold of 1.0), there will still be grouping done to complete any necessary gap filling. If a user does want to group similar trips, their route grouping threshold will only be used if it is lower than the gap filling threshold to ensure accurate gap filling. Once grouped, we will try to fill in any gaps with paths that exist from another route in the group.

The Variants tab displays the most variants of the route you are investigating, as well as their journey counts. While routes are labeled on the map numerically, variants are labeled alphabetically. Hover over a variant to display quick metrics or click to view details.

Route Analytics data

Explore how Route Analytics processes journey data, including route filtering, gap filling, and variant analysis, to provide accurate route representations.

The Route Analysis algorithm only considers the roads taken upon exit of the Origin and entry to the Destination.

Note:

Route Analytics does not consider routes with Overlapping zones, since vehicles can potentially enter the Destination before leaving the Origin.

Filtering

For a route to be presented, 90% of it must pass Geotab's privacy filters. Due to privacy filtering, it is likely that the number of journeys returned in a Route Analysis will be lower than what is returned in the Origin and Destination analysis. To ensure data quality for a route to be returned, at least 10 journeys must have been observed on that route.

Gap filling

Journeys that may contain very large gaps due to GPS issues are not an accurate representation of the route, and these journeys are dropped. For routes that have smaller gaps (less than 10km), an algorithm is employed to fill in any missing areas along the route.

Variants

For each Origin and Destination (O/D) pair analyzed through Route Analytics, there may be one or many routes returned, depending on the O/D pair and the input, Route Grouping Threshold. The Route Grouping Threshold refers to the percentage of two routes that needs to be the same for them to be grouped together as a single route; this is done for the similar routes to be counted as a single representative route. To account for the possibility of multiple flows being counted as a single route, variant attributes are used to capture the variations on the main route for all included routes. The most common variant forms the basis of the main route returned, and all the other variants are returned as an array against the main route.

Exporting data from a Route Analysis

Learn how to export data from a Route Analysis, including options for exporting all data, O/D data, or Route Analysis data, with additional options for exporting current route or segment data in CSV format.

To save the data from your Route Analysis:

Click the download icon on either the main Route Analysis, Overview, or Variants tab.
Select if you want to export all data (both O/D and completed Route Analysis), all O/D data (only O/D Matrix), or all Route Analysis data (only completed Route Analysis).
Note:
For single routes, you have the option to Export current Route data (.csv) and for single segments, you can Export current Segment data (.csv). Exporting to CSV runs on a server. A notification banner indicating exports to CSV will be emailed to you, along with an email informing you when the CSV is ready. Once the CSV is ready, you can save it locally.

Saving Route Analysis parameters

Learn how to save Route Analysis parameters for future use, which is useful for rerunning analyses, writing API calls, or providing detailed information for support queries.

There are times when it may be of interest to save an analysis setup for future use. This can be helpful when rerunning the same or similar analysis in the future, writing an API call, or providing more information to the support team when assisting you with a question. To save or use the parameters of your analysis:

Click the three dots at the top of the main Route Analysis, Overview, or Variants tab.
Select between Copy OD Matrix input as JSON, Save parameters, or Load parameters.
- Copy OD Matrix input as JSON allows you to copy all parameters of your analysis for API requests or troubleshooting purposes.
- Save parameters allows you to save all parameters of your analysis to a file.
- Load parameters allows you to import any previously saved parameters.

Viewing Route Analysis results for Common Routes

Learn how to view Route Analysis results for common routes, including navigating the map, understanding route metrics, and accessing detailed route information.

Locate the O/D pair you wish to view on your list of completed route analyses. Click View next to the pair's name.
Choose Common Routes using the toggle.
By default, the map shows your O/D pair, as well as the ten most popular routes between the O and D. The color of each route corresponds to its value of metric displayed at the bottom of the map. Open the dropdown to select Journey Count, Journey Duration (med), Running Speed (med), or Travel Speed (med).
Hover over the number of any route on the map to get a tooltip of quick statistics. Click the tooltip to go to the Details page.
Note:
Travel direction can either be ascending or descending; this in reference to the zone letters. In this example, the travel direction is ascending, therefore the route was traveled from C to F. If the travel direction was descending, the route would be traveled from F to C.
Beneath the map, there is a table that provides the routes that passed privacy filters for your O/D pair.
Note:
All analyzed routes are subject to privacy filtering, therefore, there may be routes missing from the analysis chart. This is why your total journey count across each route may not be equal to the total journeys between your O/D pair.
1. By default, the top ten most popular routes are highlighted in the chart and shown on the map, organized from biggest to smallest number, but you can click Show route next to a route to display it on the map. As well, you can select Hide route next to any of the top ten routes to remove it from your map.
Each column of the table displays a metric relating to the corresponding route. Click the arrows next to the metric to sort the list to go from lowest to highest value; click again to sort from highest to lowest.
1. Some metrics have a statistical range listed next to them; Route Analysis defaults to display the median. Click on the Median dropdown menu to select between Median, Average, or Standard Deviation.
To drill down to more route specific metrics, as well as variants, click a route from the table.

Altitude

Learn Altitude

Support