Accessing Speed Limit Data via HERE Location Services

When your mapping application is enabled by HERE Location Services, it can do much more than track a GPS signal or provide routing information.

Comprehensive and fully integrated HERE APIs enable robust features and functionality within HERE Location Services, including:

• Maps – freshest, highest quality maps and fastest map rendering
• Directions – intelligent routing with accurate, reliable directions
• Places – millions of point addresses and places worldwide
• Geocoder – precise, accurate, and complete address information
• Traffic – the world’s most comprehensive source of traffic data
• Transit – a complete door-to-door transit experience
• Visualization – rapid data visualization on the world’s best map

Data of particular importance to many app builders are speed limits. HERE maps provide several valuable speed-related insights that allow for the fast and efficient creation of customized location-based experiences.

Getting Up to Speed (Limits)

The HERE APIs/SDKs are rich with data that can enhance your map-based application. When your mapping application is enabled by HERE Location Services it can do much more than track a GPS signal or provide routing information. Additional data can include weather, POIs (Places), traffic information and speed limits, just to name a few.

One piece of data that many app builders find particularly valuable is speed limits. Speed limit data has several applications, including calculating more accurate ETAs and tracking driver behavior to provide alerts when a driver has exceeded the posted speed limit.

Since ADCi is a licensed reseller of HERE Location Services (APIs/SDKs), customers often ask us about how to access available speed limit data. We’re happy to help by providing the example below of how to get speed limits using the Route Match API. The Route Match API will find the most probable route between a set of waypoints.

In addition to the matched route, additional link attributes, such as speed limits, can also be requested. The instructions below for Route Match is based on v8 of the HERE Telematics API, which was released in February 2020.

1.Request the route and include the “attributes=SPEED_LIMITS_FCn(*) parameter.

https://routematching.hereapi.com/v8/match/routelinks?apikey=<apikey>&waypoint0=42.0272,-87.9623&waypoint1=42.0294,-87.9652&mode=fastest;car&routeMatch=1&attributes=SPEED_LIMITS_FCn(*)

The response will include the speed limit in KPH for each link along the route.

Note: In order for the code to work the user has to input their own <apikey>.

Speed limit data is just one of the many ways location intelligence is being leveraged across industries and the globe. Learn more about the benefits of the HERE Location Services in our reference guide, What Sets HERE Location Services Apart From Other Mapping APIs? Click the button below to download your copy now.