Build a complete routing platform in minutes using just natural language commands.

This solution deploys OpenRouteService directly in your Snowflake account using Cortex Code — Snowflake's AI-powered CLI. It runs as a set of Snowpark Container Services, callable as plain SQL functions. No complex setup, no external APIs, no data leaving Snowflake.

🔧 Openrouteservice on SPCS - A self-contained routing engine running in Snowpark Container Services with SQL-callable functions.

📍 Four Powerful Routing Functions:

📐 Native GEOGRAPHY Output — DIRECTIONS, ISOCHRONES, and OPTIMIZATION return route and polygon geometry as a native Snowflake GEOGRAPHY column directly — ready for geospatial analysis with ST_LENGTH, ST_AREA, ST_WITHIN, and more.

🗺️ Any Location - Customize to Paris, London, New York, or anywhere in the world with downloadable OpenStreetMap data.

🧪 Function Tester - An interactive web UI (ORS Control App) to test the routing functions with sample addresses.

This is what you will need:

The architecture below shows the solution which uses Snowpark Container Services to power sophisticated routing and optimisation functions.

This is a self-contained service which is managed by you. There are no API calls outside of Snowflake and no API limitations. This solution uses a small high-memory pool (HIGHMEM_X64_S) which is capable of running unlimited service calls within San Francisco (the default map). If you wish to use a larger map such as Europe or the World, you can increase the size of the compute.

Use Cortex Code, Snowflake's AI-powered coding assistant, to deploy the routing solution using natural language commands and automated skills.

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Snowflake-Labs/sfguide-create-a-route-optimisation-and-vehicle-route-plan-simulator
   cd sfguide-create-a-route-optimisation-and-vehicle-route-plan-simulator
   

   Without Git: Download the ZIP from the repository and extract it, then navigate to the folder in VS Code

   After cloning, open the folder in VS Code. You should see the following structure in your Explorer:

   

2. Launch Cortex Code CLI in the VS Code terminal:

   cortex
   

3. Connect to Snowflake - Cortex Code will prompt you to select or create a connection. once a connection has ben created using one of the authentication methods, you will now be able to start cortex code in the terminal by using the cortex command which will give you a similar screen as below.

Before running any commands, it's helpful to understand what skills are and how they power this solution.

What are Skills?

Skills are structured specifications that instruct Cortex Code how to perform a procedure. Think of them as detailed recipes - they define the exact steps, parameters, and verification checks needed to accomplish a task. Each skill is a markdown file that describes:

Benefits of Using Skills

How This Solution Uses Skills

This repository demonstrates how skills can manage the complete lifecycle of an end-to-end Snowflake analytical solution - from installation through customization to uninstallation. There are multiple pre-built skills in the .cortex/skills/skill_name/SKILL.md:

To run any skill, simply tell Cortex Code:

Cortex Code reads the skill's markdown file and executes each step, asking for input when needed and verifying success before moving on.

Run the prerequisites check skill to ensure all dependencies are installed:

To deploy the plain-vanilla app execute command below in Cortex Code:

If you are also interested in deploying the demos you can type:

You can also choose to only deploy specific demoes, just specify them using natural language.

Cortex Code will automatically:

The skill will guide you through any required steps, including:

The skill uses interactive prompting to gather required information.

What gets installed:

Simply confirm each prompt as the skill progresses. The skill handles all the complex setup automatically — creating databases, uploading files, building containers, and deploying all 5 services.

The skill also:

Once complete, the skill prints the ORS Control App URL:

Once deployment completes, the build skill prints the ORS Control App URL. You can also retrieve it at any time by running:

Open the URL in your browser to access the ORS Control App — a React-based web dashboard that manages all aspects of the routing solution.

The ORS Control App is the central management interface for the routing solution. It provides:

Use the Start All / Stop All buttons for bulk service operations, or manage services individually. Click Refresh Status to update the dashboard.

The ORS Control App includes a Functions page for testing all routing functions interactively with a live map preview.

To access the Functions page:

1. Open the ORS Control App URL (printed at the end of the build skill, or retrieved via SHOW ENDPOINTS IN SERVICE OPENROUTESERVICE_APP.CORE.ORS_CONTROL_APP)
2. Navigate to the Functions page in the app

The Functions page allows you to test all routing functions:

🗺️ DIRECTIONS

🚚 OPTIMIZATION

⏰ ISOCHRONES

🗺️ TIME-DISTANCE MATRIX

The routing solution includes several optional demos that showcase real-world use cases built on top of the core routing functions. Each demo is deployed independently using a dedicated skill — run any of them after the base installation is complete.

In case you have not done this before, to deploy a demo, tell Cortex Code:

The Dwell Analysis demo monitors how long fleet vehicles stop at facilities and tracks SLA compliance across the entire operation. It uses a Dynamic Table pipeline to detect vehicle states, sessionize dwell events, and surface H3 congestion heatmaps.

Key features:

To deploy:

The Fleet Delivery demo provides fleet-wide delivery analytics for courier operations.

Key features:

To deploy:

The Fleet Taxis demo generates realistic taxi driver location data using Overture Maps and OpenRouteService for actual road routes, then visualizes fleet-wide operations across a configurable city and number of drivers.

Key features:

To deploy:

The Route Deviation demo identifies drivers and routes that deviate from the planned path. It runs a 3-step ETL pipeline to compute deviation percentages and registers analytical dashboard pages directly into the ORS Control App.

Key features:

To deploy:

The Retail Catchment demo uses isochrone analysis with Overture Maps POI data to visualize how many customers, competitors, and addresses fall within a configurable travel-time zone around any retail location.

Key features:

To deploy:

The Routing Agent demo creates a Snowflake Intelligence (Cortex) agent that answers natural language routing queries. Users can ask for directions, estimate travel times, or explore isochrones through a conversational interface with the route rendered live on a map.

Key features:

To deploy:

All routing functions are deployed as SQL functions inside the OPENROUTESERVICE_APP database and can be called directly from any Snowflake worksheet, notebook, or application. The functions live under OPENROUTESERVICE_APP.CORE.

Directions: Point-to-Point

Calculate a driving route between two coordinates (longitude, latitude):

Directions: Multi-Waypoint

Route through multiple stops by passing a locations object as VARIANT using PARSE_JSON:

Isochrones

Generate a polygon showing the area reachable within 10 minutes of driving. Cast lon and lat to FLOAT:

Optimization: Tabular

Match delivery jobs to vehicles using arrays of jobs and vehicles:

Optimization: Raw Variant

Pass a full VROOM-compatible JSON challenge:

Matrix: Tabular

Calculate the time and distance matrix between multiple locations:

Matrix: Raw Variant

Pass full matrix options for advanced control (sources, destinations, metrics):

ORS Status

Check service health and available routing profiles:

DIRECTIONS, ISOCHRONES, and OPTIMIZATION are table functions that return a GEOJSON GEOGRAPHY column directly alongside the full RESPONSE VARIANT. There are no separate _GEO wrapper functions — geography output is built in.

The GEOJSON GEOGRAPHY column returned by DIRECTIONS, ISOCHRONES, and OPTIMIZATION can be chained directly with Snowflake's built-in geospatial functions:

Route length in kilometers:

Isochrone area in square kilometers:

Check if a point falls within an isochrone:

The routing solution is configured via the ors-config.yml file which controls:

Map Source File

The default deployment uses San Francisco. When you customize the map region, this path is updated automatically.

Routing Profiles

The configuration defines which routing profiles are available for routing:

Optimization Limits

The config also controls route optimization capacity:

These settings support complex route optimizations with many vehicles and delivery points.

Cortex Code makes uninstallation simple with natural language commands.

To remove the Snowflake objects installed as part of the demo you can type in Cortex Code CLI:

Or drop the objects manually:

This will remove:

You've just deployed a self-contained routing solution in Snowflake using natural language commands - no complex configuration files, no external API dependencies, and no data leaving your Snowflake environment.

This solution demonstrates the power of combining: