Shortest Path Routing with PostGIS - PGRouting - Network Analysis - Complete Web Project - Part 5

In this final technical part of the routing series, we make our shortest path engine dynamic and ready for real-time use — by using input points and materialized views.

This structure allows the system to automatically calculate and refresh the shortest route whenever the user provides a new start and end point — perfect for web apps, QGIS visualizations, or mobile GIS solutions.

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✅ What’s Covered in this Video:

• Create a points table
  A simple table to store user-defined start and end points for routing.

• Dynamic shortest path using Materialized View
  We create mv_short_path — a view that:

  • Finds the nearest network node to the start point

  • Finds the nearest network node to the end point

  • Runs pgr_dijkstra() between these two nodes

  • Returns the full geometry of the resulting route

• Refresh logic for re-routing
  By simply updating the points table and calling REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW, the route updates automatically — no manual query rewriting needed!

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💡 Why This Step is Powerful:

This approach turns your routing engine into an interactive, user-driven service — ideal for frontend integration. Whether you're building:

• a QGIS plugin

• a Leaflet-based web portal

• or an API for mobile navigation

This dynamic logic allows users to select any two locations and instantly receive the shortest path.