Multi-Stop Route Optimizer
Add up to 20 stops and get them reordered into the shortest possible visiting sequence, with the real road distance, driving time and the route drawn on a map. Stop 1 stays fixed as your start; the tool permutes the rest to minimise total travel.
The stop order is optimized on straight-line (great-circle) distances — exact by brute force for 8 stops or fewer, and with a nearest-neighbour + 2-opt heuristic for larger lists — and the figures are honestly labelled as such. The road distance and driving time come from a live OSRM route through the optimized order on the free OSRM demo server.
Add 2–20 stops (place names or “lat,lng”). Stop 1 stays fixed as the start; the tool reorders the rest for the shortest total distance.
How to use this tool
Enter place names or “lat,lng” pairs — 2 to 20 stops. Stop 1 is fixed as the start.
Each place name is geocoded once (spaced to respect Nominatim's fair-use limit), then the stops are reordered.
Visit the stops in the numbered order and trace the blue road route on the map.
What people use this tool for
Reorder 12 drop-offs around the city so you drive the fewest kilometres in a shift.
Sequence a day of service calls across towns for minimum windshield time.
Find the most sensible order to visit five cities starting from your home base.
How it's calculated
Each input is resolved once (Nominatim forward geocoding for place names, spaced at least 1.1 s apart; direct parsing for “lat,lng”). The open tour is optimized on Haversine distances: exact brute-force permutation for 8 stops or fewer (provably optimal), nearest-neighbour + 2-opt for 9–20 stops (a strong heuristic, not guaranteed optimal). A real road route through the optimized order is then fetched from the OSRM public demo server. Straight-line and road figures are labelled separately.
Related tools and resources
Frequently asked questions
Is the optimized order the true shortest road route?
Almost always: the order is optimized on straight-line distances and road networks usually follow the same sequence. One-way streets, rivers or toll roads can occasionally change the ideal order, which is why the figures are labelled honestly.
How is 8 stops or fewer handled differently?
With 8 stops or fewer the tool tries every possible order (brute force) and picks the shortest — mathematically guaranteed optimal. Larger lists use a fast nearest-neighbour + 2-opt heuristic.
Does the route return to the start?
No — this tool plans an open tour that ends at the last stop. For closed tours that return to the depot, use the delivery route planner.
Why do I see straight-line and road distances?
The order is optimized on straight-line math, but cars drive roads. OSRM gives the real road distance through the optimized order; both are shown so you can see the difference.
Data sources & methodology
- OSRM — Open-source routing engine; road routes come from its public demo server.
- OpenStreetMap — The road network data OSRM routes on, and the map tiles.
- Nominatim — OpenStreetMap-based geocoder used to locate place names users type in.