Matrix API

The Matrix API calculates travel times and distances between multiple origins and multiple destinations in a single request. This is useful for finding the fastest destination from a set of options, or for building a full distance matrix between locations.

The Matrix API is currently available in the German state of NRW. Contact us for other regions.

Base URL

https://routing.maptoolkit.net/matrix

Authentication

Add your API key as ?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY to every request. See Authentication for details.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`from`	`lat,lng`	Yes	Origin coordinate. Repeat for multiple origins.
`to`	`lat,lng`	Yes	Destination coordinate. Repeat for multiple destinations.
`routeType`	string	Yes	Vehicle type: `car`, `bike`, `foot`, or `transit`.
`departure`	string	No	Departure time in ISO 8601 format (e.g., `2025-04-05T23:16:00Z`). Only affects `transit` routing.

Notes

For transit routing, the departure parameter affects results - without it, a default departure time is used.

Response

Calculate travel times and distances from two origins to two destinations by car:

GET https://routing.maptoolkit.net/matrix?routeType=car&from=51.2194,6.7941&from=50.7323,7.0960&to=50.9420,6.9581&to=50.7681,6.0926&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY

This is a response to the HTTP GET request shown above:

{
  "distances": [
    [
      39500,
      80656
    ],
    [
      28732,
      91729
    ]
  ],
  "times": [
    [
      1684,
      2874
    ],
    [
      1464,
      3165
    ]
  ],
  "info": {
    "copyrights": "gtfs.de, OpenStreetMap contributors"
  }
}

The result is ordered as [from1→to1, from1→to2, …], [from2→to1, from2→to2, …]. Times are in seconds, distances in meters.

If a connection cannot be found, the value is null. The distances matrix is not available for the transit profile.

Errors

Errors return the HTTP status code with a plain-text message in the body.

Status	Meaning
`403`	The API key is missing (`Access denied!`) or not recognized (`Api-key not found!`). See First Steps.
`400`	A parameter failed validation, or the routing engine rejected the request.
`500`	Internal server error.

Common `400` messages

Message	Cause
`Cannot parse departure time!`	`departure` is not a valid date string.
`Only car,bike,foot,transit profile is allowed`	`routeType` is not one of the supported values.

Errors from the upstream routing engine are forwarded as-is.

Rate limits

Limits are monthly request quotas tied to your plan rather than a per-second rate: the service returns no RateLimit-* or Retry-After headers. Current allowances are on the pricing page.

The free Basic plan has a hard limit, so requests are refused once it is reached. On Pro and Ultra, requests past the allowance are billed rather than refused. Enterprise plans use a flexible limit.

Calls to this API count toward your plan’s API request allowance, which is the smaller of the two allowances.

Pricing

Self-service plans (Basic, Pro, and Ultra) are billed through RapidAPI; see RapidAPI for how to subscribe and authenticate. Plan limits and prices are listed on the Maptoolkit pricing page. Enterprise customers call the native hosts directly with a Maptoolkit API key.