When I saw the headline of the article, and being a network engineer by trade, I thought for sure this article was on OSPF. Was intrigued to see Google Maps leveraging Dijkstra's algorithm. Makes you think about traffic a bit different - I wonder if Google has the concept of backbone, stub and transit "areas" within maps? Next time I use a mapping solution I'll definitely think about it much differently, very cool.

Does anyone know how costs are assigned in a mapping application that may use something like Dijkstra's? In the network world cost is derived by link speed and distance, being a general oversimplification, but I wonder how general areas are broken up into routing domains? By city or state?

Very interesting...

A bunch of weighing schemes possible, including speed limit, distance, congestion and toll fees. The routing algorithms for electric vehicles seem to prioritize elevation (or rather lack of) as well, to preserve battery.