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Creating contextualization of a place for travelers can be beneficial for several reasons when it comes to planning:
It helps to give travelers a better sense of the location and how it relates to other places. By providing information about distances, bearings, and durations, travelers can better understand how long it will take to reach a destination, and what other places are nearby.
It allows travelers to make more informed decisions about how to plan their trip. Knowing the distance and duration of a journey can help travelers to plan their itinerary more effectively, and decide which places to visit and how much time to allocate to each location.
It helps to provide a sense of perspective and scale. By providing information about distances and bearings, travelers can better understand the size and layout of an area, and how it relates to other places.
It enhances the overall travel experience by providing context and a deeper understanding of the place.
Alpaca Travel GraphQL API provides developers with a variety of tools to help build contextualization for users. The API provides information such as distances, estimated travel times, and isochrone representations of distance and duration for different modes of transport. Additionally, it also provides bearings, compass, line of site distances, and links to Google Maps for live traffic and turn-by-turn directions. These tools can be used to help users plan their itinerary more effectively, orient themselves in relation to landmarks and points of interest, and navigate unfamiliar locations with ease. Overall, Alpaca Travel GraphQL API can be a powerful tool for developers looking to create a more comprehensive and meaningful travel experience for their users.
Simple contextualization refers to the collection of tools and information provided by Alpaca Travel GraphQL API that aim to simplify users' orientation and understanding of their surroundings. These tools include bearings and compass information, line of sight distances, and links to Google Maps for live traffic and turn-by-turn directions. With these features, developers can provide users with a sense of direction and orientation, as well as help them navigate unfamiliar locations with ease.
Including compass or bearings in a travel itinerary can be helpful for several reasons.
First, it can provide users with a sense of direction and orientation as they navigate unfamiliar locations. This can be especially useful for outdoor activities such as hiking or camping, where a compass can be a critical tool for navigation.
Second, providing compass or bearing information can also help users to orient themselves in relation to landmarks, points of interest, or other locations. This can make it easier for users to locate specific places or to plan their movements more effectively.
The below example uses the "towards" operation to provide a series of positions to determine the bearing and compass.
1query GetPlaceBearings {
2 place(id: "place/facebook:page:mavisthegrocer") {
3 towards(positions: [{ lon: 145.0028, lat: -37.8027 }]) {
4 # Bearing, supporting Degrees or Radians
5 bearing(unit: Degrees)
6 # 16 point compass
7 compass
8 }
9 }
10}Sandbox: Configure | Try Operation
If successful, the resulting response will look like the following:
1{
2 "data": {
3 "place": {
4 "towards": [
5 {
6 "bearing": 84.87297636433495,
7 "compass": "E"
8 }
9 ]
10 }
11 }
12}This feature enables developers to calculate the distance between two points on a map, as the crow flies, regardless of the presence of obstacles like buildings or mountains. This can be especially useful for outdoor activities such as hiking or camping, where a clear line of sight can be critical for navigation. By providing line of sight distances, the API can help users to orient themselves in relation to landmarks, points of interest, or other locations, and to plan their movements more effectively.
Using the "towards" operation, similar to the method to obtain the bearings, you can provide multiple positions to calculate the line-of-sight distance
1query GetPlaceLineOfSightDistances {
2 place(id: "place/facebook:page:mavisthegrocer") {
3 towards(positions: [{ lon: 145.0028, lat: -37.8027 }]) {
4 # Distance available in metric or imperial measurements
5 distance(unit: Kilometers)
6 }
7 }
8}Sandbox: Configure | Try Operation
The expected response will look like the following:
1{
2 "data": {
3 "place": {
4 "towards": [
5 {
6 "distance": 0.5098599748002429
7 }
8 ]
9 }
10 }
11}You can also use alternative metric or imperial units.
Google Maps integration is a feature provided by Alpaca Travel GraphQL API, allowing developers to enhance navigation for users by providing live traffic and turn-by-turn directions. This feature enables developers to link to Google Maps directly from their application, providing users with real-time information about traffic conditions, construction, and other potential delays. The integration also allows users to see their current location, and get directions to their destination. By providing live navigation via Google Maps, the API can help users to navigate unfamiliar locations with ease, and to plan their movements more effectively.
1query GetGoogleMapsDirections {
2 place(id: "place/facebook:page:mavisthegrocer") {
3 navigationUrl(provider: Google)
4 }
5}Sandbox: Configure | Try Operation
The expected response will look like the following:
1{
2 "data": {
3 "place": {
4 "navigationUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&destination=-37.8031099,144.99702"
5 }
6 }
7}Building advanced context refers to the collection of tools provided by Alpaca Travel GraphQL API that help to provide more detailed and specific information for users when planning their trip. These tools include providing distance and duration estimates via specific modes of transportation, such as car, foot, and bike modes, as well as supplying isochrone results. These features allow developers to give users a better understanding of the time and effort required to reach a destination, and can help users to make more informed decisions about how to plan their trip.
Distance and duration estimates are a useful tool provided by Alpaca Travel GraphQL API, allowing developers to provide personalized planning for users. This feature enables developers to calculate distances and durations for specific modes of transportation, such as car, foot, and bike modes, between places. This can help users to plan their itinerary more effectively by providing them with accurate information about the time and effort required to reach a destination, and can help users to decide which mode of transportation to use based on the distance and duration of the journey. This feature can be especially useful for travelers who are looking for more specific information about how to plan their trip. By providing distance and duration estimates for specific modes of transportation, the API can help users to make more informed decisions about how to plan their trip, and can greatly enhance their travel experience.
Using the "routes" operation, you can supply a mode of transport as well as the positions of the start and end points.
1# Queries routes that exist through the supplied positions. Supports a wide
2# range of different travel modes and waypoints
3
4query FindRoutesBetweenPositions {
5 # Use the routes() query to query routes between supplied positions
6 routes(
7 # Supports profiles like: Car, Bike, Foot, Hike, etc
8 mode: Car
9 # Supply waypoints (min: 2, max 50)
10 positions: [
11 { lon: 144.96876776218414, lat: -37.8180097638788 }
12 { lon: 144.99648571014401, lat: -37.79815352540803 }
13 ]
14 # Provide 1 route
15 first: 1
16 ) {
17 nodes {
18 segments {
19 # Access some information about the distance/duration/elevation
20 # Control the units that are use
21 distance(unit: Kilometers)
22 duration(unit: Minutes)
23 elevation {
24 min(unit: Meters)
25 max(unit: Meters)
26 }
27 }
28 }
29 }
30}Sandbox: Configure | Try Operation
The expected result will look similar to the following:
1{
2 "data": {
3 "routes": {
4 "nodes": [
5 {
6 "segments": [
7 {
8 "distance": 6.1256070000000005,
9 "duration": 8.873483333333333,
10 "elevation": {
11 "min": 2.42,
12 "max": 34.57
13 }
14 }
15 ]
16 }
17 ]
18 }
19 }
20}Note, it is also possible in this query to include the request of geojson or
polyline in order to obtain the route path to visually show the user on the
interface if necessary.
Isochrone representations are a powerful tool provided by Alpaca Travel GraphQL API, allowing developers to provide an understanding of reachability for users. This feature allows developers to call the API to obtain a representation of the area that can be reached within a certain amount of time, using a specific mode of transportation, such as walking. For example, developers can use this feature to create a representation of the area that can be reached within 5 minutes of walking from a hotel or accommodation. This can help users to understand how close they are to landmarks, points of interest, or other locations, and can help them to plan their movements more effectively. Additionally, this feature can be used to create a more comprehensive and meaningful travel experience for users by providing them with the necessary information to understand their location and plan their itinerary more effectively.
1query GetNearbyIsochrone {
2 # Search for the polygon representation of where you can walk within 5 minutes
3 # of a given location
4 isochrone(
5 center: { lon: 144.99702, lat: -37.8031099 }
6 duration: 5
7 mode: Foot
8 ) {
9 polygon
10 }
11}Sandbox: Configure | Try Operation
The expected result will be a polygon representation of the area you could walk within 5 minutes.
1{
2 "data": {
3 "isochrone": [
4 {
5 "polygon": {
6 "coordinates": [
7 [
8 [
9 144.9990909360146,
10 -37.802132365527726
11 ],
12 [
13 144.99893424098792,
14 -37.8014406722361
15 ],
16 ...
17 ]
18 ],
19 "type": "Polygon"
20 }
21 }
22 ]
23 }
24}Copyright © 2024 - Made with love ❤️ in Australia.