BC Route Planner REST API

gov · Government

Government No Auth Free & Open open_data

Finds shortest/fastest route between a start point and one or more stop points on British Columbia's public road network. The BC Route planner [webpage](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content?id=9D99E684CCD042CD88FADC51E079B4B5) provides additional information. Here are some geocoded addresses to play with: 18 Douglas St,Victoria -123.36962,48.40892 1002 Johnson St, Victoria -123.355745,48.426206 543 Johnson St, Victoria, BC -123.36907,48.42770 14 Centennial Sq, Victoria, BC -123.36564

Authentication

No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.

Sample Requests

GET Get the directions, path, distance and travel time between a series of geographic points

Represents the turn-by-turn directions, geometry, distance, and time of the shortest path or fastest path between given start and end points

https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/directions.{outputFormat}?points=example&disable=sc,tf,ev,td&criteria=shortest&departure=example&outputSRS=4326&roundTrip=false&correctSide=false&distanceUnit=km&routeDescription=Routing results

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/directions.{outputFormat}?points=example&disable=sc%2Ctf%2Cev%2Ctd&criteria=shortest&departure=example&outputSRS=4326&roundTrip=false&correctSide=false&distanceUnit=km&routeDescription=Routing%20results"

import requests
params = {
    "points": "example",
    "disable": "sc,tf,ev,td",
    "criteria": "shortest",
    "departure": "example",
    "outputSRS": "4326",
    "roundTrip": "false",
    "correctSide": "false",
    "distanceUnit": "km",
    "routeDescription": "Routing results"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/directions.{outputFormat}",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/directions.{outputFormat}');
url.searchParams.set('points', 'example');
url.searchParams.set('disable', 'sc,tf,ev,td');
url.searchParams.set('criteria', 'shortest');
url.searchParams.set('departure', 'example');
url.searchParams.set('outputSRS', '4326');
url.searchParams.set('roundTrip', 'false');
url.searchParams.set('correctSide', 'false');
url.searchParams.set('distanceUnit', 'km');
url.searchParams.set('routeDescription', 'Routing results');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/directions.{outputFormat}")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("points", "example")
	q.Set("disable", "sc,tf,ev,td")
	q.Set("criteria", "shortest")
	q.Set("departure", "example")
	q.Set("outputSRS", "4326")
	q.Set("roundTrip", "false")
	q.Set("correctSide", "false")
	q.Set("distanceUnit", "km")
	q.Set("routeDescription", "Routing results")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/directions.{outputFormat}")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "points" => "example",
  "disable" => "sc,tf,ev,td",
  "criteria" => "shortest",
  "departure" => "example",
  "outputSRS" => "4326",
  "roundTrip" => "false",
  "correctSide" => "false",
  "distanceUnit" => "km",
  "routeDescription" => "Routing results"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/directions.{outputFormat}?" . http_build_query([
    "points" => "example",
    "disable" => "sc,tf,ev,td",
    "criteria" => "shortest",
    "departure" => "example",
    "outputSRS" => "4326",
    "roundTrip" => "false",
    "correctSide" => "false",
    "distanceUnit" => "km",
    "routeDescription" => "Routing results"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Get distance and travel time between two geographic points

Represents the distance and time of the shortest or fastest path between given start and end points.

https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/distance.{outputFormat}?points=example&disable=sc,tf,ev,td&criteria=shortest&departure=example&outputSRS=4326&roundTrip=false&correctSide=false&distanceUnit=km&routeDescription=Routing results

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/distance.{outputFormat}?points=example&disable=sc%2Ctf%2Cev%2Ctd&criteria=shortest&departure=example&outputSRS=4326&roundTrip=false&correctSide=false&distanceUnit=km&routeDescription=Routing%20results"

import requests
params = {
    "points": "example",
    "disable": "sc,tf,ev,td",
    "criteria": "shortest",
    "departure": "example",
    "outputSRS": "4326",
    "roundTrip": "false",
    "correctSide": "false",
    "distanceUnit": "km",
    "routeDescription": "Routing results"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/distance.{outputFormat}",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/distance.{outputFormat}');
url.searchParams.set('points', 'example');
url.searchParams.set('disable', 'sc,tf,ev,td');
url.searchParams.set('criteria', 'shortest');
url.searchParams.set('departure', 'example');
url.searchParams.set('outputSRS', '4326');
url.searchParams.set('roundTrip', 'false');
url.searchParams.set('correctSide', 'false');
url.searchParams.set('distanceUnit', 'km');
url.searchParams.set('routeDescription', 'Routing results');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/distance.{outputFormat}")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("points", "example")
	q.Set("disable", "sc,tf,ev,td")
	q.Set("criteria", "shortest")
	q.Set("departure", "example")
	q.Set("outputSRS", "4326")
	q.Set("roundTrip", "false")
	q.Set("correctSide", "false")
	q.Set("distanceUnit", "km")
	q.Set("routeDescription", "Routing results")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/distance.{outputFormat}")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "points" => "example",
  "disable" => "sc,tf,ev,td",
  "criteria" => "shortest",
  "departure" => "example",
  "outputSRS" => "4326",
  "roundTrip" => "false",
  "correctSide" => "false",
  "distanceUnit" => "km",
  "routeDescription" => "Routing results"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/distance.{outputFormat}?" . http_build_query([
    "points" => "example",
    "disable" => "sc,tf,ev,td",
    "criteria" => "shortest",
    "departure" => "example",
    "outputSRS" => "4326",
    "roundTrip" => "false",
    "correctSide" => "false",
    "distanceUnit" => "km",
    "routeDescription" => "Routing results"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Get the directions, optimal path, distance and travel time between a start point and a series of end points which are reordered to minimize total distance or time.

Represents the turn-by-turn directions, geometry, distance, and time of the shortest path or fastest path between a start point and a series of end points which are reordered to minimize distance/time

https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/optimalDirections.{outputFormat}?points=example&disable=sc,tf,ev,td&criteria=shortest&departure=example&outputSRS=4326&roundTrip=false&correctSide=false&distanceUnit=km&routeDescription=Routing results

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/optimalDirections.{outputFormat}?points=example&disable=sc%2Ctf%2Cev%2Ctd&criteria=shortest&departure=example&outputSRS=4326&roundTrip=false&correctSide=false&distanceUnit=km&routeDescription=Routing%20results"

import requests
params = {
    "points": "example",
    "disable": "sc,tf,ev,td",
    "criteria": "shortest",
    "departure": "example",
    "outputSRS": "4326",
    "roundTrip": "false",
    "correctSide": "false",
    "distanceUnit": "km",
    "routeDescription": "Routing results"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/optimalDirections.{outputFormat}",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/optimalDirections.{outputFormat}');
url.searchParams.set('points', 'example');
url.searchParams.set('disable', 'sc,tf,ev,td');
url.searchParams.set('criteria', 'shortest');
url.searchParams.set('departure', 'example');
url.searchParams.set('outputSRS', '4326');
url.searchParams.set('roundTrip', 'false');
url.searchParams.set('correctSide', 'false');
url.searchParams.set('distanceUnit', 'km');
url.searchParams.set('routeDescription', 'Routing results');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/optimalDirections.{outputFormat}")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("points", "example")
	q.Set("disable", "sc,tf,ev,td")
	q.Set("criteria", "shortest")
	q.Set("departure", "example")
	q.Set("outputSRS", "4326")
	q.Set("roundTrip", "false")
	q.Set("correctSide", "false")
	q.Set("distanceUnit", "km")
	q.Set("routeDescription", "Routing results")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/optimalDirections.{outputFormat}")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "points" => "example",
  "disable" => "sc,tf,ev,td",
  "criteria" => "shortest",
  "departure" => "example",
  "outputSRS" => "4326",
  "roundTrip" => "false",
  "correctSide" => "false",
  "distanceUnit" => "km",
  "routeDescription" => "Routing results"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/router/2.0.0/optimalDirections.{outputFormat}?" . http_build_query([
    "points" => "example",
    "disable" => "sc,tf,ev,td",
    "criteria" => "shortest",
    "departure" => "example",
    "outputSRS" => "4326",
    "roundTrip" => "false",
    "correctSide" => "false",
    "distanceUnit" => "km",
    "routeDescription" => "Routing results"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

See official documentation for authentication and setup.

What can you build with BC Route Planner REST API?

BC Route Planner REST API is a Government API. Developers commonly use government APIs for:

surfacing public datasets in citizen-facing apps
building transparency and civic engagement tools
accessing legislation, court records, and official data
powering research and journalism tools
creating compliance and regulatory monitoring dashboards

No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. BC Route Planner REST API is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.

New to APIs? Read our beginner's guide · Learn about API keys · What is REST?

Open documentation ↗