Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

activity: A collection of actions (mostly tasks) that a driver does as part of an assignment, such as picking up and delivering a package. See also Task types in the Scheduled tasks documentation.
assignment: A work item that a driver accepts and completes as part of a transaction between a business and its customers. An assignment can include multiple activities, such as delivering all packages in the truck.
actual: Modifier indicating that something has happened, as opposed to being planned. Applied to different types of data, such as a route, stop, location, or arrival time.

B

basemap: Background map that provides reference information for other layers in a Geographic Information System (GIS). A basemap typically includes geographical features such major roads, coastlines, and political boundaries.

C

Cloud Fleet Routing: Cloud Fleet Routing solves vehicle routing problems (VRPs). Given a set of vehicles and locations, finds the optimal routes so that a vehicle visits each location. See Cloud Fleet Routing. Will sunset in January of 2025. Use Route Optimization API.

D

delivery: A scheduled shipment of material goods to a scheduled stop. Also, a type of task that refers to what a driver is doing with a package.
delivery task: Type of scheduled task recorded by Fleet Engine used for dropping off items or completing a task for a consumer. See also Task types in the Scheduled tasks documentation.
destination: The intended location for a driver activity. This could be a scheduled stop for a delivery task or a waypoint for an on-demand trip.
driver: Person associated with a vehicle by means of an app on their device that they use while in the vehicle and during their assignments.
driver activity: See activity.
drop-off: A stop where people or material goods are deposited after having been picked up by a driver.

E

F

Fleet Engine: Fleet Engine is a backend service that interoperates with APIs and SDKs to enhance mapping, routing, and location management. See What is the Fleet Engine service?
fleet plan: A matrix composed of an ordered list of stops for a collection of vehicles.
Fleet Engine service: See Fleet Engine.

G

goods: Items, such as a package or food, moved as part of an assignment.
gRPC: A cross-platform, open source, remote procedure call framework initially created by Google. See gRPC.

H

I

itinerary: The collection of current assignments for a vehicle. For scheduled services, the itineray includes the manifest and the sequence of deliveries. For on-demand trips, the itinerary includes the number of trips assigned at any given period, most commonly one trip. For Cloud Fleet Routing, the itinerary is known as a tour.

J

journey: The route for a vehicle from the origin to the termination of a specific assignment. An example would be one rideshare trip for a single person, or a shipment journey for a package delivered at a given stop. A journey is also the part of the driver's assignment that you want to share, such as for determining the status of a goods delivery.
journey sharing: The ability to share the progress of on-demand trips with consumers, or scheduled tasks with fleet administrators. Includes journey sharing from the Consumer SDK, the trip and order progress in the Maps JavaScript API, shipment tracking, and fleet tracking.

K

L

leg: See route segment.
location provider: An interface used exclusively in the JavaScript library for both shipment tracking and fleet tracking that provides location information for tracked objects. This service allows consumers and fleet operators to see the progress of tasks on a map.

M

manifest: List of all items to be delivered by a single vehicle, regardless of the sequencing of delivery.

N

O

on-demand trip: A journey requested by a consumer for a driver to pick up and drop-off a person or food. See What is an on-demand trip?
optimized route: The most efficient path between stops, optimized according to criteria such as distance or time.
origin: The first waypoint of a journey.

P

passenger: A person who is the rider in a vehicle assigned a rideshare activity.
pickup task: Type of task recorded by Fleet Engine to indicate picking up of goods. Must have a corresponding delivery task. See also Task types in the Scheduled tasks documentation.
planned: Modifier indicating that something is intended to happen, as opposed to actually having happened. Applied to different types of data, such as a route, stop, location, or arrival time.
polyline: A list of points where line segments are drawn between consecutive points. In maps, refers to a line that connects multiple points to create, for example, a route.
provider ID: The ID, equivalent to a Google Cloud Project ID, used in Fleet Engine endpoint requests that identifies the request as coming from you, the customer of Google.

Q

R

rideshare activity: An activity where one or more consumers are picked up or dropped off at requested locations.
route: A series of connected route segments that join beginning, ending, and (optionally) intermediate waypoints. A route includes time and distance between route segments. See also Routes API.
Route Optimization API: The Route Optimization API assigns tasks and routes to a vehicle fleet, optimizing against the objectives and constraints that you supply for your transportation goals. See Route Optimization API.
route path: An ordered list of stops for a single vehicle. See also shipment route.
route segment: The specific part of a route between two adjacent stops, including the polyline, time, and distance between those two stops. Also known as a leg in the Routes API.
Routes API: An API that helps you find the ideal route from origin to destination locations, including intermediate waypoints. The Routes API, for example, calculates ETAs and distances for matrixes of origin and destination locations. See Routes API documentation.
routing: The process of finding a path between an origin and destination for a person or a vehicle.

S

scheduled stop: A non-delivery task recorded by Fleet Engine requiring a stop at a specific location, such as collections from drop boxes. See Fleet Engine task types.
scheduled tasks: A series of planned tasks for a driver, such as picking up a package or stopping at a location to provide an on-site service. See also Scheduled Tasks.
shipment: Goods delivered to a consumer by a scheduled services. Also a type of assignment that involves picking up and delivering goods.
shipment route: An ordered list of stops for a single vehicle. See also route path.
side of road waypoint: Used in the Routes API as a waypoint property that indicates a preference for the side of the road a vehicle should stop on.
stop: A location along a route where a vehicle stops. In scheduled services, each stop can have one or more tasks.

T

task: A task represents a single scheduled and logged action a driver of a vehicle takes within an activity. Each task is associated with a stop. For example: Pick up a package (pickup task), stop for gas or take a required break (unavailability task), deliver a package (delivery task). For ridesharing, a task includes picking up and dropping off passengers. A task has status and can be open and closed, and closed tasks can have succeeded or failed. The task is the key mechanism used by scheduled services to identify and conclude transactions for a consumer. See Task.Types for a list of all types of tasks. See also scheduled tasks.
trip: A type of assignment that includes a pickup and a drop off. For example, picking up and dropping off a passenger comprises a trip.

U

unavailability task: A task that identifies a vehicle as unavailable for service, such as when the driver takes a break or refuels the vehicle. See also Task types in the Scheduled tasks documentation.

V

vehicle routing problem (VRP): Problem of finding the optimal routes for a given a set of vehicles and locations, so that each location is visited by a vehicle. See Vehicle Routing Problem.
vehicle stopover waypoint: A type of waypoint that specifies a planned stop along a route between the origin and destination. Also, a waypoint property in the waypoint object for the Routes API. See also stop.
via waypoint: A type of waypoint indicated as a milestone rather than a stopping point. From the Routes API.

W

waypoint: See stop. Note that this term is specific to Google and not the GIS industry.