Today we had a downtime from 10:30 to 11:15 due to database issues, which was caused by wrong file access properties applied at the wrong directory. We apologize for this!

Reason

Such access limitations are normally not a big issue as our API can still work with a read only database and access can be reverted immediately. The API even works if our database crashes, only the customer dashboard will be offline.

The problem today was that the root cause wasn’t clear at that time and so we applied our restore functionality of the database but this didn’t work and all customer were overwritten and suddenly didn’t have access to the API. Be it through the dashboard and even through our API end point.

We needed to fix the restore functionality in order to do a proper import of the backed up data and this took roughly 30 minutes.

We already have restore tests but not with the full database and recent data. So we’ll have to investigate how we can learn from this problem and e.g. add a (daily) restore test to make 100% sure restoring works in the future within seconds not minutes or even better: automated.

Today we are proud to release version 0.5 of our open source road routing engine GraphHopper. Try it out on GraphHopper Maps:

We’ve improved the GraphHopper core and the GraphHopper Directions API which now includes route optimization. Download now via maven snippet or zip package.

A big thanks for this 0.5 release goes again to all of our contributors and translators! This release also includes features sponsored by Geofabrik, curbside and komoot. Read here to see how to become a sponsor and how to benefit from our GraphHopper knowledge or donate us now. Additionally the developer Sander from Falk.nl has contributed #397. The default map tiles of GraphHopper Maps are now provided for free (!) from Omniscale.

Thanks a lot to all contributors and translators!

Now here are the highlights for GraphHopper 0.5:

• Implemented forcing the route direction, the so called ‘heading’, at start, via and end points. Very useful for navigation applications, #434, thanks @jansoe !
  
• The turn instructions are now translated in over 34 languages, including the new Sorbian language. See all languages and contributors & thanks to them!
• Further improved bike routing, thanks @ratrun !
• One GraphHopper installation can now include multiple profiles even if CH is enabled, see #464. This makes such installations a lot more memory efficient and decreases import time. Sponsored from komoot! A major refactoring was necessary for #464, see #447
  
• Improvements related to Android and GPX export, thanks @devemux86 !
  
• Added nearest API to snap point to road, #397, thanks @Svantulden !
  
• Updated the iOS port of GraphHopper, thanks @clns !
• Updated the browser port of GraphHopper via TeaVM, thanks @konsoletyper ! See the live examples.
  
• A demo was created which uses live traffic data to influence the routing and also contains a simple traffic visualization on a map for LeafletJS
• Some minor breaking changes in the web API regarding error messages
• Several other smaller bugs and improvements
• All changes and necessary refactorings are documented in the changelog

An “alternative routes” branch was created here which also includes round trip calculation, but due to several limitations this is not yet merged into master.

Have fun and let us know your requirements!