ORS-Tools - Beginner-friendly Mobility Analysis with OpenStreetMap and openrouteservice in QGIS

Room: Workshops

Friday, 11:30
Duration: 60 minutes (plus Q&A)

no recording This event will not be recorded.

Openrouteservice Website

Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology (HeiGIT) Website

University of Heidelberg, Faculty of Geoinformation Sciences

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  • Benjamin Herfort
  • Julian Psotta

Turn OpenStreetMap data into routing insights with openrouteservice and QGIS, no servers, no sign-ups, no code.

In this 90-minute hands-on session for newcomers and intermediates, you’ll:

  • See how OSM tags become a routable network and why popular routing engines offer directions, isochrones & matrices per default and what they do.
  • Connect the ORS-Tools QGIS-plugin with the public openrouteservice API with API-keys we hand out on the spot.
  • Build multiprofile routes around the SotM venue, calculate hospital service areas in Manila, and solve a medicine delivery to every of those hospitals with the help of easy to access vehicle optimisation.

You’ll walk away with a reusable QGIS project, a tutorial, and the confidence and knowledge to repeat the workflow anywhere, anytime.

This 90-minute workshop is a hands-on session for newcomers and intermediates to learn how to do routing and mobility analysis with OSM data and openrouteservice in QGIS.

We start with a fast-but-thorough introduction with the basics for the new ones:

  • How are OSM tags converted into routable networks;
  • How do you access OSM data for mobility analysis;
  • The three core services of routing engines: directions, isochrones, matrix.

During the hands-on part, you’ll learn how to use the ORS-Tools QGIS-plugin for rapid prototyping, and how it brings all of this power of mobility analysis straight into QGIS without any server setup or complicated requirements.

More specific you will:

  • connect the ORS-Tools plugin to the public ORS API using workshop API-keys we provide – no signup needed;
  • build turn-by-turn routes around the SotM 2025 venue;
  • calculate X-minute hospital isochrones in Manila and count the residents they cover;
  • solve a travelling-salesman problem to deliver medicine to every of those hospitals in the most efficient way.

You’ll leave with a ready-to-reuse QGIS project and the know-how to repeat every step anywhere and anytime. The participants can always set up openrouteservice as self-hosted or acquire individual access to our hosted servers for free afterwards.