get_route_geometry: Get route geometry

In gtfstools: General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) Editing and Analysing Tools

Get route geometry

Description

Returns the distinct geometries of the trips of each specified route_id (its "variants", e.g. each direction and each short-turn service), with the trip_id that identifies each of them and the number of trips that follow them.

Usage

get_route_geometry(gtfs, route_id = NULL, method = "shapes", crs = 4326)

Arguments

gtfs	A GTFS object, as created by read_gtfs().
route_id	A character vector including the route_ids to have their geometries generated. If NULL (the default), the function generates geometries for every route_id in the GTFS. route_ids not listed in trips are ignored, with a warning.
method	A string, either "shapes" (the default) or "euclidean", specifying how the geometry of each trip is generated. Please see get_trip_geometry() for details. If the GTFS object doesn't have a shapes table, or if its trips table doesn't have a shape_id column, "euclidean" is used instead, with a warning.
crs	The CRS of the resulting object, either as an EPSG code or as an crs object. Defaults to 4326 (WGS 84).

Value

A ⁠LINESTRING sf⁠ with one row per route and distinct trip geometry, with the columns route_id, trip_pattern (the first trip_id, in alphabetical order, of the route's trips with that geometry, which identifies it), n_trips (the number of trips of the route with that geometry) and geometry. Rows are ordered by route_id (with NA last) and, within each route, by decreasing n_trips.

Details

The geometry of each trip is generated as in get_trip_geometry(), so it goes from the trip's first to its last stop, either along its shape or as straight lines between its stops, and the same limitations and warnings apply. The trips of a route whose geometries are identical are then merged into a single row. Trips that visit stops at different points of the same shape thus result in different rows, even if their geometries overlap.

Only trips listed both in trips and in stop_times are considered, so routes without any trip listed in stop_times are not included in the output. When a trip_id is listed more than once in trips, only its first entry is considered. With route_id = NULL, trips with a missing route_id are grouped together, under an NA route_id. Trips without any stop with coordinates (and, with method = "shapes", trips that can't be located along a shape) get an empty geometry, as in get_trip_geometry(), and these trips are counted in an empty-geometry row of their route.

See Also

get_trip_geometry(), get_shapes_geometry()

Examples

data_path <- system.file("extdata/spo_gtfs.zip", package = "gtfstools")

gtfs <- read_gtfs(data_path)

route_geometry <- get_route_geometry(gtfs)
head(route_geometry)

route_geometry <- get_route_geometry(gtfs, route_id = "CPTM L07")
route_geometry
plot(route_geometry["n_trips"])

gtfstools documentation built on Oct. 28, 2026, 5:13 p.m.