How does a map app find the fastest route?
The Route Detective
How does a map app find the fastest route?
You tap "go" on your phone, and instantly the app announces: "Fastest route found — 23 minutes." How did it do that? You didn't measure every street. The app didn't drive down every road. Yet somehow it knows. Let's follow the route the app takes to find your route.
First, the app needs a map — not the picture you see, but a secret map underneath made of dots and lines. Every intersection is a dot. Every street is a line connecting two dots. Your house is one dot. Your destination is another dot. The app's job: find the best path of lines between them.
