Using Bing Maps to calculate routes to stay within countries
Blog|25 March 2020

At times, route planning calculations can return the fastest route through a neighbouring country. In the following use case example, driving from “Mussey Township, MI” to “850 Lake Ave, Rochester, NY”, the calculation for the fastest route is via Ontario, Canada at Blue Water Bridge, and then entering New York, United States:

Bing Maps Calculate Route API
Visa requirements and custom duties mean that some drivers and vehicles need to keep their routes within the United States (for example). Using the optional parameter avoid=borderCrossing
, Bing Maps Calculate Route API can offer an alternate route, which may have a longer travel time and travel distance, but the route is kept within the United States without crossing country borders. The example map is below:

Bing Maps Truck Routing API border crossing restrictions
In addition to avoid=borderCrossing
for avoiding crossing country borders for auto and truck routes, Bing Maps now also supports customisable border crossing restrictions for the Truck Routing API. This optional borderRestriction
parameter supports specifying regions or geographic areas where border crossing should be avoided, is allowed or must be minimised.
Transport rules to consider
Transport rules can vary. Some rules may allow trucks to route through some countries while strictly prohibit the trucks from entering other countries. There may be state or federal regulations around transportation of items such as tobacco, alcohol, medicines or controlled substances across a country border or state lines.
The Bing Maps Truck Routing API can now handle these scenarios by simply setting a parameter in the API call. For this use case example, our scenario is a truck driver who needs to drive from Ashville, TN to Jacksonville, FL, with a requirement to avoid driving through the state of Georgia. Using the borderRestriction
parameter the API returns the following:

When visualised on the map below, the example without the borderRestriction
parameter shows the broken black line tracking the route through the state of Georgia. The blue line shows the route specified using the borderRestriction
parameter, with the state boundary restriction for Georgia (US-GA).

For more details on these new Bing Maps features, read the Calculate a Route API and Calculate a Truck Route API documentation.
For more information about Microsoft Bing Maps, or to discuss your use case, contact the Grey Matter team of mapping specialists. Call them direct on +44 (0)1364 655 133 or email mapping@greymatter.com
Contact Grey Matter
If you have any questions or want some extra information, complete the form below and one of the team will be in touch ASAP. If you have a specific use case, please let us know and we'll help you find the right solution faster.
By submitting this form you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and Website Terms of Use.
Related News
How to manage a renewal on GMCirrus
Paessler acquires qbilon to help customers unlock key insights to improve IT performance
Paessler AG acquires qbilon GmbH, a company that provides a platform for automatically capturing, analysing and optimising hybrid IT landscapes.
Intro to our Embarcadero licensing specialists
Grey Matter has been supporting developers and ISVs with IDEs and developer tools since 1983. As part of our 40th celebration, we are interviewing some of our specialist teams to find out more about the team and their focus solutions.
In this blog, we speak to Robin Ashby and Andy Hill, our Embarcadero licensing specialists.
Acronis expands Cyber Protect Cloud with new EDR solution
Acronis, one of our leading cyber security partners, has recently expanded its Cyber Protect Cloud offering by introducing a cutting-edge endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution.