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Maybe posting this question here is wrong, if so I'm sorry and please close this topic.

I was wondering which shortest path algorithm is used by Google Maps to find the minimal route between two points

Does anyone know anything about that?

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    It's probably a corporate secret. Knowing [who is in the team](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/lc88a/were_the_google_maps_team_ama/) might help.2011-10-25
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    I doubt that it is a correct-working algorithm, sometimes forcing it to use a different way slightly decreases the distance (even if you choose to walk). So I guess they use some really good heuristics.2011-10-25
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    @Paul May be somebody at http://gis.stackexchange.com/ could say something about it.2011-10-26

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As Emre says, it's probably a corporate secret, but I would guess that they've just optimized the heck out of some well-known algorithm. You can find info about such algorithms by starting here.