Paths are a set of nodes and links, where links represent that there is a passable path between two nodes. These paths are used by Situm to compute the shortest route from point A to point B. As shown in the following image, you can create the paths of your building on the Paths section of the cartographic editor.
Paths can be configured to enable different use cases:
- (1) Tags. Tags are custom attributes that can be used to filter the kind of routes that Situm SDK will provide. For example, you might tag one link as “private” and then ask Situm SDK or Situm WYF only to provide the paths that are “private” or to avoid the “private” paths.
- (2) One / Two-way paths. You can indicate that a path is one-way only or two-way. One-way paths are useful, for example, if you want to indicate that users can only go up using a certain escalator but not go down.
- (3) Accessible / not accessible paths. You can configure path links as not accessible for people with reduced mobility.
- Floor transitions paths. You can link different floors by using elevators, escalators or stairs. You can read a more detailed guide about how to create floor transitions paths here.
Thanks to this, Situm will be able to provide the best route for your user and use case.
Accessible / not accessible paths #
By default, all Situm paths are considered accessible (meaning they can be traversed by people with reduced mobility). Situm also allows tagging them as “Not-accessible”, which allows computing routes that avoid these links, producing accessible routes (e.g. suitable for wheelchair users).
The following figure shows an sample of how to configure the stairs path as “Non-accessible”, therefore a wheelchair user will be suggested to take a different route (e.g. one that uses an elevator). By clicking on the link and unchecking the “Accessible” checkbox, you will configure the link as not accessible (the link will become discontinuous).
Sample of how to configure a not-accessible floor transition path
One / Two-way paths #
By default, all the links are bidirectional (two-way), meaning that users can traverse them both ways. However, Situm also allows you to define them as “one-way-only”. An example of such a situation would be the security control of an airport or escalators which can only go up or down.
By clicking on the link and changing the “Direction”, you will configure the link as one-way only. The direction of the link will be shown with a directional arrow.
Sample of how to configure a one-way floor transition path
Tags #
Situm allows associating each link with custom attributes or tags. These can be used to filter the kind of routes that Situm SDK and Situm-based apps will provide. For example, you might tag one link as “private” and then ask Situm to only provide the paths that are “private” or to avoid the “private” paths.
Custom Routes: including / excluding tags #
By default, you can include / exclude any segment from your route based on their tags (see here how to do it):
- If you include a tag, the route will consider segments that either have no tag or the included tag. For example, if segments are tagged as “public” or “private” and you include “public,” the route will use untagged and public segments.
- If you exclude a tag, the route will ignore all segments with that tag. For instance, if you exclude “private,” the route will consider all segments except the private ones.
You can set several settings from the Map Viewer Settings Panel, including which tags you want to include / exclude from your routes. Therefore, one simple option is to just to create one or more configurations (which will differ on the tags that you’ll include/exclude) and, at runtime, load one or the other based on the “remoteIdentifier” parameter of the Map Viewer.
For this purpose, you may define as many tags as you want.
Special tags #
Additionally, Situm provides the following special tags:
- Time Range. You can exclude segments based on a time range by using tags in the format “hh:mm-hh:mm”. If a segment is tagged “15:00-16:30” and this tag is excluded, the segment will be ignored within that time range. This is useful for time-based restrictions, such as night closures. More info here.