February Release Highlights Including Searching for Fast Food Snack Places by Distance

All services receive map content updates frequently but we will call out a few noteworthy highlights in February 2019 related to the following services: Places API, Traffic API, and Fleet Telematics API.

There were other minor updates and fixes across many other services as well which were related to regular maintenance releases. View the API Version History for specific monthly updates including change log and release notes for all of the APIs.

Places API

Find (e.g., search for name, type, category), discover (e.g., look into address, contact info) and interact with POI information (e.g., enable user reviews, photos). Learn more…

Version 2.70.0

• Query results for category “snacks-fast-food” are now sorted by distance.

Example

If you take the Discovering Places example for Category Searches:

// H.service.Platform already initialized with app id / code
var explore = new H.places.Explore(platform.getPlacesService());
var params = {
  'cat': 'snacks-fast-food',
  'at': '39.82596,-105.14587',
  'size': '10'
};
explore.request(params, {}, onResult, onError);

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The Explore Entrypoint will typically order results for a category by popularity. Given the nature of snacks and fast food, it may make more sense to order by distance.

The following results (title, distance in meters, and position) were returned for the `snacks-fast-food` category of places near the Apex Center in Arvada, CO:

('Panera Bread', 1427, [39.813306, -105.143065])
('Burger King', 1563, [39.81263, -105.14005])
('Firehouse Subs', 1594, [39.8136, -105.13641])
("Arby's", 1602, [39.81311, -105.13738])
('Taco Bell', 1619, [39.81232, -105.13924])
("Jimmy John's", 1687, [39.81139, -105.14035])
('Chipotle', 1721, [39.81127, -105.13953])
('Subway', 1739, [39.81231, -105.13594])
('Silver Mine Subs', 1931, [39.81372, -105.12983])
("Wendy's", 1996, [39.81292, -105.16193])

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Traffic API

Display map tiles with real-time traffic flow information overlays reflected as colored lines drawn on affected streets and roads and get access to real-time traffic flow and incident data in XML and JSON. Learn more…

Version 6.0.85.5

• Introduction of incidents coverage for the following new markets: Lithuania (E2C43), Thailand (F3219), Mexico (A5F36), Taiwan (F1D13), Portugal (E4842), Romania (E1E01), and Bulgaria (E1801)

Fleet Telematics API

Get access to advanced location algorithms for fleet management use cases like geofencing, route matching, toll costs and more.  Learn more...

Version 2.5.11

• New routing feature &excludeCountries=DEU,NLD by using 3 letter ISO country codes prevents routes from crossing borders into specific countries.