Cable car/Gondola routing

Hi everyone!

I want to route using a gondola on OSM using GraphHopper.
Unfortunately I found out that this isn’t possible because “aerialway” isn’t recognized by GraphHopper.

That’s weird because I can route through ferries, even on trains (like the Eurotunnel) but no cable cars???

(Please see my issue on OSM: https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/58925/routing-using-a-gondolacable-car)
Could you please help me?

Warm regards from Porto-Portugal,
Filipe Taborda

Hi Filipe,

thanks for pointing this out.

It seems like GraphHopper does not handle cable cars, chair lifts, and gondolas right now. Supporting cable cars and gondolas for Bike (if tagged) and Foot routing would probably make sense. I am not sure about chair lifts, as most of the ones I know are only used for skiing, and we don’t have a ski routing profile :). On the other hand we might see some issues with seasonal operating cable cars, etc. WDYT @karussell?

Here is the OSM Wiki entry to cable cars. Here is the Tag Info.

Cheers,
Robin

I think there is already an issue open: https://github.com/graphhopper/graphhopper/issues/344

I do not find this that important but if this comes as a contribution we would include it, of course.

Hi karussell,

I already read that issue before. But somehow it died in 2015 mostly (at least I understood it so) because of incorrect OSM data…

For us make a lot of sense because it’s allowed to put the bikes in the cable car and therefore you save a lot of effort.
Since GraphHopper is a great routing tool and komoot uses it, I don’t see the disadvantage to include “aerialways”.
I’m not a GraphHopper-Developer but if I would like to help you on this matter.

By the way, what’s the big difference between “ferry route” and “gondola”? Only the profile, isn’t it?

And yes, I did update all the connection points and the data on OSM so routing could be possible! :smile:

Warm regards,
Filipe Taborda

No it is not dead (it is still open ;)), we just need to set priorities and rely heavily on our community :slight_smile:

By the way, what’s the big difference between “ferry route” and “gondola”? Only the profile, isn’t it?

Not much … just again the priorities: ferry is used a way more often :slight_smile:

Thanks karussell,

how may I help you (or the community) on this matter, in order to make it work?

Previously I didn’t know how to contribute on OSM, now I do.
So I believe I can also learn to contribute at GraphHopper…

Great to hear this :slight_smile: !

You’ll need to write some Java and some unit tests and provide this as a pull request, the process for contributing is described here: https://github.com/graphhopper/graphhopper/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

Besides learning a bit Java and git, you can ask us anything … do not fear to get started :slight_smile:

If it is mapped as way it is a bit easier and you can have a look into existing feature and unit tests. The basic concept is that currently the accessibility and average speed of a way (internally called edge) is detected at import time in a so called FlagEncoder. E.g. have a look at the CarFlagEncoder and this method https://github.com/graphhopper/graphhopper/blob/master/core/src/main/java/com/graphhopper/routing/util/CarFlagEncoder.java#L239