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Bogdan Alexandru Militaru
Bogdan Alexandru Militaru

Posted on • Originally published at boobo94.github.io on

How to install OSRM backend on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

What is OSRM?

The Open Source Routing Machine or OSRM is a C++ implementation of a high-performance routing engine for shortest paths in road networks. Licensed under the permissive 2-clause BSD license, OSRM is a free network service. OSRM supports Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, and Mac OS X platform.

Tutorial used from Digital Ocean using Geofabrik Map.

Before digging into, you can check Initial Server Setup with Ubuntu 14.04. I added 4GB swap memory using this tutorial.

Please note that the structure for your folders should be

  • ROOT
    • osrm
    • map.osm.pbf
    • osrm-backend (this is the repo cloned. info how to build also here)

See below for required dependencies.

mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build .
sudo cmake --build . --target install

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To extract the maps you should be in the root.

~$ osrm-extract osrm/map-latest.osm.pbf -p ./osrm-backend/profiles/car.lua

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How to run osrm locally:

osrm-routed /home/osrm/osrm/map.osrm

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Setup Nginx

Point 9 is described here, but to summary let’s dive in:

Install Nginx

sudo apt-get install nginx

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Create a new configuration file in sites-available

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/osrm.conf

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Now fill in the content:

upstream osrm {
    server 0.0.0.0:5000;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your_IP_or_DNS;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://osrm/;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
    }
}

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Then we should activate this configuration, by creating a link to sites-enabled.

cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/osrm.conf

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Don’t forget to test the configuration. It should pass the syntax check.

nginx -t

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Reload the configuration of Nginx

sudo service nginx reload

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and start the server

sudo service nginx start

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Open ports

Maybe seems stupid, but please be sure that your machine has inbound ports open for port 80 and/or 443.

Execute OSRM backend as Linux Daemon

We need to create first the service file

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/osrm.service

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Then fill in the content

[Unit]
Description=Daemon for osrm backend

[Service]
ExecStart= /usr/local/bin/osrm-routed /home/osrm/osrm/map.osrm
WorkingDirectory=/home/osrm/osrm/
Restart=always
User=osrm

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

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Please take into consideration the folder structure discuss previously. So as you can see we have a Service block where we specify the start command, but using absolute path osrm-routed /home/osrm/osrm/map.osrm. Then the working directory which in our case is ~/osrm.

Press CTRL+X and save.

Enable the service. It will start automatically on boot, after that.

$ sudo systemctl enable osrm.service

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Check status/start/stop/restart

$ sudo systemctl {status|start|stop|restart} osrm

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A complete list with all available directives that can be used inside the service file can be found here

Test the api

curl “http://your\_IP\_or\_DNS/route/v1/driving/route/v1/driving/source\_longitude,source\_latitude;destination\_longitude,destination\_latitude?steps=true&alternatives=true&geometries=geojson”

Official documentation from OSRM API can be found here

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