Principles of routing in ownMap
Routing lets your visitors see how to get from one point to another on your map. This feature can be enabled in the map's settings (see Create a map) — but it first needs to be prepared, by positioning zones and/or circulation axes on your floor plans.
ownMap offers two ways to move around within a floor plan: zones and circulation axes.
The circulation axes described here define the routes used for routing. They are different from the scale calibration, which is only used to set the floor plan's distances (see Setting the floor plan's scale).
Zones
A zone is a polygon placed on your floor plan. All locations within this zone can be joined directly by a route. The route is then drawn "as the crow flies" and represented by a curve.
If your map allows free movement (a courtyard, for example) or if your circulation axes are simple enough and well represented on your floor plan, this method is the easiest to set up.
If you have several zones that only communicate through one or a few specific points (for example, an access point between two wings of a building), you need to overlap the zones and place a special location of type Landmark on their common area.
In that case, a route going from one zone to another must necessarily pass through the landmark (or one of the landmarks) connecting the two zones. This mechanism can be used to join points by passing through several successive zones.
Circulation axes
Circulation axes are segments you place along the actual circulation paths (typically corridors) of your floor plans.
When you place an axis, all locations on your map that are neither in a zone nor closer to another axis are automatically associated with it. The route is then drawn by passing through the axis: a segment to reach it, a segment along the axis, then a segment to reach the destination.
If several axes meet at their endpoints or cross each other, the route can follow these junctions:
If you want to connect a zone and an axis on the same floor plan (for example, if a corridor leads to a courtyard or a hall), it is enough for one of the axis's endpoints to be located inside the zone — the route will then pass through that endpoint. There is no need to place a landmark in this case.
Level changes
To move from one level to another (i.e. from one floor plan to another), special locations of type "stairs" or "elevator" are used.
The principle is as follows: all staircases (or all elevators) sharing the same short name are assumed to communicate with each other to change level. So a staircase named "Stairs A" on the ground floor lets visitors reach a staircase named "Stairs A" on the 1st floor, if it exists.
The route calculation engine is designed to favor using stairs for up to two floors; beyond that, it favors the elevator. This setting naturally takes into account how far these elevators or staircases are from the route (for example, if the staircase is farther than the elevator, the elevator may be favored even for a single floor).