Inherited Location

Overview

A job without a location takes the location of the stop that precedes it in the route. The inheritance follows route order, not job relations: whichever stop the solver places directly before the job determines where it is performed. A location-less job that ends up first in its trip inherits the shift’s start location. This is useful for scenarios like:

Multi-stop visits where subsequent stops are performed at the previous location
Follow-up tasks that must be performed where the previous job was done
Tasks whose location depends on the execution order

To make a job directly follow a specific other job, and so inherit its location, link them with a DIRECT_SEQUENCE relation.

Example Request

This example demonstrates a location-less job: job2 is placed directly after job1 by a DIRECT_SEQUENCE relation, so it inherits job1’s location.

{
  "resources": [
    {
      "name": "Vehicle 1",
      "shifts": [
        {
          "from": "2024-01-01T08:00:00Z",
          "to": "2024-01-01T18:00:00Z",
          "start": {"latitude": 51.1079, "longitude": 17.0385},
          "end": {"latitude": 51.1079, "longitude": 17.0385}
        }
      ],
      "capacity": [100]
    }
  ],
  "jobs": [
    {
      "name": "job1",
      "location": {"latitude": 51.1279, "longitude": 17.0485},
      "duration": 900,
      "windows": [
        {"from": "2024-01-01T08:00:00Z", "to": "2024-01-01T17:00:00Z"}
      ],
      "load": [10]
    },
    {
      "name": "job2",
      "duration": 600,
      "windows": [
        {"from": "2024-01-01T08:00:00Z", "to": "2024-01-01T17:00:00Z"}
      ],
      "load": [5]
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "type": "DIRECT_SEQUENCE",
      "jobs": ["job1", "job2"]
    }
  ]
}

Resources have no id field — only name, which is also how jobs are referenced elsewhere (e.g. in relations). relations is a top-level array on the request, not a per-job field. capacity lives on the resource itself, not on an individual shift.

Key Points

No Location Specified: job2 has no location field
Relation Constraint: The DIRECT_SEQUENCE relation puts job2 immediately after job1 in the same trip. Without a relation, job2 would inherit the location of whichever stop happens to precede it
Inherited Behavior: Because job2 is scheduled right after job1, it inherits job1’s location. A location-less job placed first in a trip inherits the shift start location
Travel Time: There is no travel between a job and a following location-less job, since they share the same location
Capacity: The resource’s capacity and each job’s load arrays must have matching dimensions

Response Example

{
  "score": {
    "hardScore": 0,
    "mediumScore": 0,
    "softScore": -1200,
    "feasible": true
  },
  "trips": [
    {
      "resource": "Vehicle 1",
      "date": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
      "departureTime": "2024-01-01T08:00:00Z",
      "visits": [
        {
          "job": "job1",
          "arrival": "2024-01-01T08:10:00Z",
          "serviceTime": 900,
          "travelTime": 600,
          "distance": 2500,
          "location": {"latitude": 51.1279, "longitude": 17.0485},
          "waitTime": 0
        },
        {
          "job": "job2",
          "arrival": "2024-01-01T08:25:00Z",
          "serviceTime": 600,
          "travelTime": 0,
          "distance": 0,
          "location": {"latitude": 51.1279, "longitude": 17.0485},
          "waitTime": 0
        }
      ],
      "waitTime": 0,
      "travelTime": 600,
      "distance": 2500,
      "workTime": 2100,
      "serviceTime": 1500
    }
  ],
  "totalTravelTimeInSeconds": 600,
  "totalTravelDistanceInMeters": 2500,
  "totalServiceTimeInSeconds": 1500,
  "unserved": []
}

Note how the job2 visit shows the same location as the job1 visit and has zero travelTime/distance from the previous visit.

Use Cases

Service Continuity: Multiple services at the same customer location
Grouped Tasks: Tasks that follow each other at one location
Dynamic Locations: Jobs where the location depends on the execution order

Platform

VRP API

Fill API

Overview

Example Request

Key Points

Response Example

Use Cases

​Overview

​Example Request

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​Response Example

​Use Cases

Overview

Example Request

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Response Example

Use Cases