Which HERE API should I use?
Short answer: Ask what question your system needs answered. The product name will follow. Choosing by product name leads teams to the wrong product, because Routing, Matrix Routing, and Tour Planning all return travel times.The decision path
Answer in order. Stop at the first match. 1. Moving a vehicle from A to B? → Routing v8. If it’s a truck, van over 3.5t, hazmat carrier, or oversized load,transportMode=truck with the physical constraints.
2. Travel times between many origins and many destinations?
→ Matrix Routing v8. Not N routing calls. This is the highest-leverage correct choice on this page.
3. Many stops, optimal order, with constraints?
→ Tour Planning v3. Time windows, capacity, driver shifts, skills. A solver, not a router.
4. Address → coordinates?
→ /geocode for real-time. Batch API v7 for anything that tolerates latency.
5. Coordinates → address?
→ /revgeocode, or POST /multi-revgeocode for a list.
6. Type-ahead address entry?
→ /autocomplete. Not /autosuggest — that’s for places and misspellings.
7. Free-text place search?
→ /discover (ranked by relevance) or /browse (ranked by distance).
8. Display a map?
→ Raster Tile v3. Works with Leaflet, OpenLayers, MapLibre GL.
9. Everywhere reachable in N minutes?
→ Isoline Routing v8. Compute once, store the polygon.
10. GPS trace → road segments?
→ Route Matching v8. Essential for IFTA and speed compliance.
11. Route with charging stops?
→ EV routing — a capability within Routing v8, not a separate service.
12. Location where GPS is unreliable?
→ Positioning. Most teams never need this.
The distinction that costs the most
| Routing | Matrix | Tour Planning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question | How do I get from A to B? | What are the times between all these? | What order should I visit these stops? |
| Output | A path | A table | An itinerary |
| Calls | 1 per route | 1 per matrix | 1 per optimization |
| Wrong use | Building a matrix from it | Building an itinerary from it | Using it for A→B |
Common misconceptions
“/geocode can find restaurants.”
It resolves addresses. Place search is /discover.
“/autocomplete and /autosuggest are the same.”
Autocomplete completes addresses. Autosuggest handles misspellings and suggests places. Wrong choice produces a type-ahead that feels broken to users and correct to engineers.
“Reverse geocoding tells me which road the vehicle drove.”
It returns a nearby address. Only Route Matching returns segments, and only Route Matching survives an audit.
“Isolines answer ‘which store serves this customer.’”
Two stores’ 20-minute polygons overlap. Assign by travel time from a matrix. Isolines define coverage; matrix defines assignment.
“I have to pick one vendor for everything.”
No. Keep Google for consumer place discovery. Move routing and batch geocoding to HERE. That’s a decision, not a compromise.
Related
Choosing the Right HERE APIs
The full decision tree, by use case.
Routing vs Matrix
Why engineers write the loop, and how to catch it.
Should I use Routing or Matrix?
The short version.
Geocoding and Search
Seven endpoints, one correct choice per job.
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