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The route RouteXL planning algorithm uses travel times and a optimization methodto minimize total travel time.
== Travel times ==
To find the best route, the travel times between all locations are required. While most other route optimization tools use geographic distances (as the crow flies), RouteXL uses open source route planners based on the [[https://www.openstreetmap.org/ OpenStreetMap]] road network to determine travel. [https://www.openstreetmap.org/ OpenStreetMap] is the free Wiki World Map – an openly licensed map of the world being created by volunteers using local knowledge, GPS tracks and donated sources.
== Optimization ==
Routing multiple addresses is quite a puzzle. With 20 destinations the from-to travel distance times matrix has roughly 20 x 20 = 400 elements. The number of possible routes is even bigger, approximately 20 x 19 x 18 x ... x 3 x 2 x 1 = 2432902008176640000
Mathematicians call it a "hard" problem and there is no final one-size-fits-all solution available. They even have a name for it: ''The Travelling Salesman Problem''. Indeed, humans can fly to the moon, but can't solve this problem.
