When you call a method to compute a route or compute a route matrix, you must specify which fields you want returned in the response. There is no default list of returned fields. If you omit this list, the methods return an error.
Specify the field list by creating a response field mask. You then pass the
response field mask to each method by using the URL parameter $fields
or
fields
, or by using the HTTP/gRPC header X-Goog-FieldMask
.
Field masking is a good design practice to ensure that you do not request unnecessary data, which helps to avoid unnecessary processing time and billing charges.
For more information on URL parameters, see System Parameters.
Define a response field mask
The response field mask is a comma-separated list of paths, where each path specifies a unique field in the response message. The path starts from the top-level response message and uses a dot-separated path to the specified field.
Field paths are constructed in the following way:
topLevelField[.secondLevelField][.thirdLevelField][...]
For the compute routes methods, the field paths specify:
For the compute route matrix methods, the field paths specify the fields of the:
- REST: The fields of the Response body to return.
- gRPC: The fields of the RouteMatrixElement object in the response to return.
For more information about how to construct field paths, see the field_mask.proto.
Specify a field path
This section contains example of how to specify a field path as part of a response field mask.
REST call to computeRoutes
In the first example, you use a REST call to the
computeRoutes
method to calculate
a route. In this example, you specify to return the Route.distanceMeters
and the Route.duration
fields in the response. Remember to prefix the field
name by "routes.
"
X-Goog-FieldMask: routes.distanceMeters,routes.duration
REST call to computeRouteMatrix
For the REST computeRouteMatrix
method used to compute a route matrix, specify to return the originIndex
,
destinationIndex
, and duration
for each combination of origin and
destination:
X-Goog-FieldMask: originIndex,destinationIndex,duration
gRPC call
For gRPC, set a variable containing the response field mask. You can then pass that variable to the request.
const ( fieldMask = "routes.distanceMeters,routes.duration,routes.polyline.encodedPolyline" )
Field path considerations
Include only the fields that you require in the response. Returning just the fields that you need:
Allows our server to save processing cycles, which allows us to return your results with a lower latency.
Ensures stable latency performance. We might add more response fields in the future, and those new fields might require extra computation time. If you select all fields, or if you select all fields at top level, you might experience performance degradation because any new field that we add will be automatically included in your response.
Results in a smaller response size, which translates into higher network throughput.
Ensures that you do not request unnecessary data, which helps to avoid unnecessary processing time and billing charges.