pgRouting adds routing functionality to a PostgreSQL/PostGIS database. The introductory workshop of the training school showed the participants how. It gave a practical example of how to use pgRouting with OpenStreetMap road network data. It explained the steps to prepare the data, make routing queries, assign costs and write a custom ‘plpgsql’ function to display the route in a web-mapping application.
Navigation for road networks requires complex routing algorithms that support turn restrictions and even time-dependent attributes. The workshop explained about shortest path search with pgRouting in real road networks and how the data structure is important to get good results. Also participants learned about difficulties and limitations of pgRouting and how the data quality affects the routing results.