Build with ultimate flexibility

Add navigation features with ready-made components or build custom for specific needs or analysis.

Optimal routing at scale

Mapbox Navigation APIs process 29 million requests for directions, routes, and travel time estimates every day.

Live AI-powered data

Mapbox data pipelines process over 400 billion live location updates and 300 million miles of sensor data daily.

Navigation APIs

Build navigation experiences with modular APIs or crunch the numbers on travel time and optimal routes. Scale up to millions of origin and destination possibilities for optimization of fleets, delivery services, or distribution networks.

Plan and optimize routes

Calculate optimal driving, walking, and cycling routes with the Mapbox Directions API. Add turn-by-turn directions and account for live or typical traffic conditions.

Traffic-aware ETA calculations

Improve travel time planning with the Mapbox Matrix API, whether for a short list of destinations or fleet planning at scale. Account for traffic conditions and departure times.

Visualize travel time

Get granular with travel time polygons that account for the road network, transportation profile, and traffic conditions with the Mapbox Isochrone API. Use the polygons for catchment analysis, distribution planning, site selection, and more.

Optimize routes for a fleet

Solve vehicle routing problems for multiple vehicles and destinations with the Mapbox Optimization API. Designed for fleet logistics, allow for time window constraints, vehicle capacity limits, driver shifts, and pickup and drop-off constraints.

Stick to the roads

Make sure traces from a GPS unit or smartphone align to the road network on maps with the Mapbox Map Matching API. Allow users to create their own travel routes that can still be ingested by navigation functions.

Customer stories

With GM Maps+ over a million Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles can now access a real-time, integrated navigation app that updates over time, using Mapbox Navigation solutions for automotive.

Read showcase

Mapbox Navigation APIs help Instacart to plan and group deliveries, find nearby shoppers, and deliver orders on time. The Mapbox Directions API ensures that Instacart drivers get the most efficient routes, while the Map Matching API matches live tracking data to the road network.

Read showcase

The Royal Dutch Touring Club helps their 5 million members navigate with their award-winning Onderweg app. Mapbox Navigation solutions for mobile enable route planning and turn-by-turn directions that delight users with a tailor-made in-app experience.

Read showcase

Navigation Products

A comprehensive suite of products to power navigation features in mobile, web, and automotive applications.

Navigation SDK for automotive

Navigation with built-in maps and search, with pre-built components or fully customizable.

Navigation SDK for mobile

Navigation with built-in maps and search, with pre-built components or fully customizable.

Mapbox for EV

Plan routes, predict battery range, discover charge points, and pay for charging.

MapGPT

Navigation support via a customizable location-aware AI voice assistant.

Directions API

Calculate optimal driving, walking, and cycling routes with turn-by-turn guidance.

Matrix API

Assess travel times between many origin and destination points, live or in the future.

Isochrone API

Compute areas that are reachable within a specified amount of time from a location.

Optimization API

Plan routes for pick-ups, deliveries, and fleet logistics.

Map matching API

Snap fuzzy or inaccurate traces from a GPS unit or a phone to the road network.

Frequently asked questions

Overview

What is the Mapbox Navigation SDK?

The Navigation SDK provides developers with a suite of functions, including the Maps SDK, which allows for the creation of a navigation service that includes a number of core functionalities.   Some of the functions included in the SDK include an embedded routing engine, navigation camera, enhanced arrival experiences with 3D building highlights, and predictive caching.

With the Navigation SDK, developers can create navigation services that are fully integrated with their native applications and customize many of the design elements to suit their business branding and design requirements.

What’s new in the latest release of Mapbox Navigation SDK?

This latest version of the Navigation SDK, version 2.0, will be replacing the existing v1 General Availability (GA) that has been in the market for over a year.  With the GA version of the v2.0, developers can use the SDK to launch their products into the market as all of its components have been thoroughly tested and there are no expected breaking API changes.

Here are the additions made to the new version of the SDK

The Navigation SDK v2.0 features:

  • All the core navigation and UI features of Nav SDK 1.0* plus:
  • Integration with Mapbox Maps SDK v10 - bringing 3D maps, terrain, a redesigned camera engine, and up to 40% faster performance to the Navigation SDK.
  • Navigation Camera API - executes transitions to the best camera angle while taking into account the upcoming maneuver, vehicle speed, nearby POIs, and app’s overlaid UI elements.
  • Junction Views - request a snapshot of lane-level guidance of the upcoming maneuver in a junction to give clearer instructions to users than just voice commands.
  • Predictive Ambient Caching - Allows users to continue turn-by-turn navigation without missing maneuvers while crossing through areas with low connectivity.
  • 3D destination building highlighting - highlight a building upon arrival with 3D extrusions and colors making it easy for the driver to identify the exact location of the destination.

The Navigation SDK v1.0 features:

  • Enhanced location engine - continually filters and processes GPS signals to navigate complex driving scenarios such as sharp turns, tunnels, overpasses, and narrow parallel roads by extrapolating a driver’s current location, even when GPS signals are unavailable using dead reckoning algorithms.
  • UI customization -  Traffic fill and edges of the route-line can be styled independently. The puck (location indicator) can be styled based on the navigation state - for example, it can be gray when a GPS signal is not available.
  • Free-drive mode -  Drivers familiar with a route do not always need directions but do need to see traffic conditions and nearby POIs. In free-drive mode, the location indicator is always map-matched to the driver's current location and the map is kept centered even if the driver does not have active turn-by-turn navigation.

*Drop-In UI support for Android will not be available on the v2.x version but will be coming to the Nav SDK in Q1 2022.

Where can I download the NavSDK from?

For Android, you can download the NavSDK 2.0 here.

For iOS, you can download the NavSDK 2.0 here.

What are the minimum OS requirements for the Navigation SDK?

Navigation SDK v2.0

On Android, it supports Android 5.0 Lollipop (API Level 21) and above, and on iOS, it supports iOS 11.0 and above.

Navigation SDK v1.0

On Android, it supports Android 4.4 KitKat (API Level 19) and above, and on iOS, it supports iOS 10.0 and above.

How long will it take my team to get started with the SDK?

The Mapbox SDK has been designed so that a developer can download, install, and create a basic running application in about 1 to 2 hours.  This would include the ability to display the map, request an address location, and begin a routing session to this location.

From this point, it is then up to the developer and their specific business goals to determine the amount of customization and specific features that are required in order to bring their application to market.  

To get started, please refer to these pages for the iOS and Android SDK solutions.

Can I bring my own route with the SDK, or do I need to use the Directions API?

Yes. You are able to create and send your own route with the SDK.  There are two flavors of this option that is known as Bring Your Own Route (BYOR).  The first one is known as Map Matching in which you can create an entire route with every waypoint lat/long along the entire length of the route from origin to destination.  Once these waypoints are sent to the NavSDK, Mapbox will merely create a route from these location points and return a completed route back to the client.  From here, the map will be refreshed with traffic and incident data, but the original route will not be updated based on changing conditions. If a driver goes off course, your routing engine will need to handle any necessary re-routing. 

The second method is called Silent Waypoints.  This is similar to Map Matching, but only a few waypoints are provided to the Mapbox SDK along the path.  Mapbox’s Directions API routing engine will then optimize for the path.  In this scenario, route refresh can occur if an incident occurs along the path as long as all as waypoints are preserved. This option allows for a semi-customized route with the benefit of rerouting being handled by the Navigation SDK. 

There is a limitation of 250 way points but this is configurable and can be increased.

Are 3D maps included in the Navigation SDK for destination building highlighting?

Yes, 3D maps are part of the latest Navigation SDK allowing the exact destination building to be highlighted upon arrival, helping drivers arrive faster and spend less time looking for the right building.

Can I use the SDK to navigate offline?

Yes, the SDK can be used to navigate offline. An offline routing engine included allows users to navigate when there is little to no connectivity. The full information about offline navigation can be here for Android and iOS.

What is the benefit of in-app navigation over generic apps that come with most smartphone devices?

Including turn-by-turn navigation directly in an application allows developers to create a tailored experience that caters to their drivers' specific needs. Apps can embed and control navigation as part of the user's overall workflow, whether it's a commute, rider pickup/dropoff, or meal delivery route.

1. Customize navigation: developers can personalize the navigation experience for different use cases and audiences: display parking and doorsteps for delivery drivers, EV charging for electric vehicles, meal or beverage promotions for commuters and families.

2. Streamline workflows: developers have full control over the turn-by-turn workflow allowing smooth mid-trip adjustments like adding additional pickup/dropoff waypoints in real-time for drivers.

3. Keep drivers in-app: developers can engage and troubleshoot the driver experience end-to-end, collecting metrics and problem hotspots in operational workflows.

4. Data on User Behavior: Collecting metrics on actual driver behavior provides the ability to understand how end users are actually interacting with the application. Insights collected from this data can continue to add future improvements to the application including monetization opportunities.

How does using enhanced locations improve navigation?

Navigation needs enhanced locations to correctly determine a user’s location and give the appropriate instructions during navigation. We have designed the enhanced location engine to handle by map matching to snap the vehicle onto the road segments.  This helps to prevent deviation or gliding (such as cutting corners at an intersection).

Low or complete loss of GPS signal

  • Routing in tunnels
  • Routing in a city through tall buildings from both sides with both narrow and wide streets, i.e. urban canyon

Driving with deviations from the route under various conditions

  • Going straight instead of turning (left, right)
  • Turning instead of going straight
  • Taking a highway exit where we should go straight

Complex road intersections and interchanges

  • Taking an off-route highway exit on a parallel road on a lower level next to the highway and continuing to drive along the highway
  • Routing on highways where we transition from lower level to elevated level and back to a lower level

How often are roads updated on the map?

The map is updated every 24 hours based on the data derived from the +300 million miles of driving data collected each day. Mapbox APIs stream data updates for maps, search, and routing to the Navigation SDK. The automatic updates and live correction pipeline marks newly opened or closed roads or changes in routing conditions as they happen.

Are traffic and incidents data updated live?

Yes. Traffic updates at near real-time granularity for 2.3 billion roads segments around the world. The hundreds of millions of monthly active users using Mapbox maps on devices and in vehicles create a data feedback cycle. Mapbox data pipelines process hundreds of millions of miles of aggregated, anonymized and privacy-filtered driving data daily to provide continuously updated traffic on the map everywhere in the world.

Can I build with Flutter or React Native?

No. At this time, neither Flutter nor React Native are supported.

UI/UX Customization

How customizable is the UI of the Navigation SDK?

Developers can leverage the UX Framework to assemble a Navigation experience unique to their brand by building widgets on top of the UX Framework to fully tailor the experience.

Does the Mapbox Navigation SDK include everything necessary to embed navigation in my app?

Yes. The Navigation SDK allows developers to add in-app turn-by-turn navigation by providing UI components, core navigation logic, and APIs that provide a map, a route on the map, and trip progress without the need to upkeep the underlying data or algorithms.

The Mapbox Navigation SDK features include live traffic maps, turn-by-turn directions, detailed visual guidance, audio instructions for complex maneuvers, enhanced location engine for dense urban environments with poor GPS, route tracking, and re-route management to display real-time progress along a route, and offline caching.

Legacy Nav SDK versions (before v2.0.0)

Can I publish an app to the App Store or the Play Store during the Release Candidate phase?

Developers can use the Release Candidate version to start integrating the SDK in their apps, provide feedback to Mapbox before GA, and publish builds to their testing tracks. We recommend developers to migrate to the GA version of the SDK before releasing your application to the market.

Pricing

How much does Navigation SDK cost?

Developers have two different pricing options for the Navigation SDK, 1) Unlimited trip MAU based and 2) Metered trip pricing. The flexible pricing options allow everyone to choose the billing format that best suits their needs. The latest pricing is available on the pricing page.

How can I select a specific billing option?

The Metered trip billing option is set as the default for the Navigation SDK. If you are interested in the Unlimited MAU option, please reach out to our sales team.

On which versions of the Nav SDK are the new billing options available?

Developers must use the Nav SDK v2.0.0-rc.1 or newer so they can access the per trip pricing option. Prior versions only have access to the Unlimited trip MAU billing option.

Is the Metered trip pricing available in Paygo?

Yes. The new billing is a pay-as-you-go pricing method that requires no upfront commitments or annual contracts.

Does the Navigation SDK pricing include unlimited Directions and Maps API requests?

Yes. It includes Directions and Maps API requests along with map matching for the Bring Your Own Route approach, which powers the navigation SDK’s functionality. API calls for use cases outside of navigation will be billed at their corresponding prices. Developers who wish to use Directions API-based billing may still do so by calling the APIs directly from within their apps.

Which billing option should I choose?

Customers are free to select any billing option for the Nav SDK that they choose. The unlimited trip MAU option is intended for users that do more than 200 trips per month on average. The per trip option is intended for users that do less than 50 trips per month. A link to the full pricing page can be found here.

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