# Openrouteservice: Find optimal route and order of several waypoints

**URL:** <https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/openrouteservice-find-optimal-route-and-order-of-several-waypoints/1395>\
**Category:** openrouteservice\
**Created:** [February 26, 2020, 11:08am UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/openrouteservice-find-optimal-route-and-order-of-several-waypoints/1395 "2020-02-26T11:08:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Katzentier](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Katzentier](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/u/Katzentier)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2020, 11:08am UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/openrouteservice-find-optimal-route-and-order-of-several-waypoints/1395/1 "2020-02-26T11:08:48Z")

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Hi,

let’s say I have a list of several waypoints. The order of the waypoint is NOT fixed. Can I use openrouteservice ([https://maps.openrouteservice.org](https://maps.openrouteservice.org) or an own instance of ORS) to find the most efficient route (shortest or fastest) where ORS selects the best order of my desired waypoints?

Thank you,

Katzentier

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**Author:** ![nils](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/user_avatar/ask.openrouteservice.org/nils/32/6_2.png) [@nils](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/u/nils)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2020, 12:29pm UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/openrouteservice-find-optimal-route-and-order-of-several-waypoints/1395/2 "2020-02-26T12:29:10Z")

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You can use our backend:  
[https://openrouteservice.org/dev/#/api-docs/optimization/post](https://openrouteservice.org/dev/#/api-docs/optimization/post)

Depending on your preferred language we have several SDK’s. At least the Python one handles optimization and is quite easy to use:

> **[GitHub: GIScience/openrouteservice-py/master](https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/GIScience/openrouteservice-py/master?filepath=examples%2Fbasic_example.ipynb)**
>
> Click to run this interactive environment. From the Binder Project: Reproducible, sharable, interactive computing environments.

Also our ORS Tools plugin for QGIS can do simple waypoint optimization:  
[https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/ORStools/](https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/ORStools/)

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**Author:** ![nils](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/user_avatar/ask.openrouteservice.org/nils/32/6_2.png) [@nils](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/u/nils)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2020, 12:29pm UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/openrouteservice-find-optimal-route-and-order-of-several-waypoints/1395/3 "2020-02-26T12:29:49Z")

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Running your own instance is possible, but then you’re on your own. It requires Vroom on top of ORS. Possible but more tedious.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Katzentier](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Katzentier](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/u/Katzentier)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/openrouteservice-find-optimal-route-and-order-of-several-waypoints/1395/4 "2020-02-27T13:18:24Z")

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Thank you, I will try it out.

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**Author:** ![Gashakamba](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Gashakamba](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/u/Gashakamba)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2024, 9:21am UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/openrouteservice-find-optimal-route-and-order-of-several-waypoints/1395/5 "2024-04-15T09:21:36Z")

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Where can I find the documentation to do just this? I have managed to get my ORS instance running on Docker. The route optimization endpoint requires integration with Vroom. How do I do that?

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**Author:** ![jschnell](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/user_avatar/ask.openrouteservice.org/jschnell/32/971_2.png) [@jschnell](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/u/jschnell)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 7:38am UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/openrouteservice-find-optimal-route-and-order-of-several-waypoints/1395/6 "2024-04-16T07:38:14Z")

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Hey,

there should be plenty of topics in this forum on how to set up Vroom with your own ors instance. If you can’t find any, please open a different topic.

Best regards