route

A route is a course or way from a starting point to a destination, typically including intermediate points or stops. Routes are defined for transportation, communication, and travel, and they may be fixed or determined dynamically based on conditions.

In transportation and logistics, routes designate the paths traveled by vehicles, ships, or aircraft. Route planning seeks to balance factors such as distance, time, fuel consumption, safety, capacity, and regulatory constraints. In logistics, the vehicle routing problem and related optimization methods determine efficient sets of routes for a fleet, often under delivery time windows and service requirements.

In computer networks, routing is the process of selecting paths for data packets through a network. Routers use routing protocols and algorithms to build routing tables that indicate the next hop toward destinations. Routing can be static or dynamic and aims to optimize metrics such as latency, bandwidth, and reliability.

In graph theory, a route corresponds to a sequence of edges connecting vertices. A simple route (path) visits each vertex at most once; a route may repeat vertices or edges in some definitions. Shortest-route problems, route finding, and related concepts underpin many algorithms in computing and operations research.

Historically, routes have played a central role in trade, exploration, and religion, with routes shaping settlement, culture, and economic networks. The term appears in various contexts, including road networks, airline corridors, shipping lanes, and digital networks.