An experimental result of distance and travel time calculations between two locations using freely available spatial data, GIS software, and web services

We often want to repeatedly calculate the distance and travel time between two locations, and GIS has been used for this purpose. However, it is generally assumed that such calculations require expensive software and data and therefore they may be considered not readily available. In the meantime, there currently are freely available spatial network data, GIS software, and web services for optimal path search, and therefore it may appear that it is possible to calculate the distance and traveling time for many sets of pairs of locations without spending any monetary cost. This study conducts an experiment of the calculation of the distance and travel time between locations using freely available data, software, and web services and reports the results. Specifically, we use OpenStreetMap data, QGIS, and Google Maps Distance Matrix API, in this experimental calculation. From the results, we demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of using freely available data, software, and services.