So here's my question. Supposing that one is about to create an online web appliation that takes as user input a current location and a location for destination, and displays as a result one of the 5-6 available routes that are stored in a database that is most suitable in terms of distance,and Open Street Map data and Open Layers are used which would be the best way to make this happen?
What I am asking for is what would I need for: 1.Storing the data in database 2.Do the routing calculations. If I would like to change a bit the algorithms for academic reasons and have more control of my final result how would I do that? Do I need any programming language? Any good tutorials? 3.What is the difference between using pgRouting and using any custom solution(like mentioned above)? Doing the all the coding again by myself would be like reinventing the wheel? 4.What would be best for a commercial website, where fast calculations would be needed?
UPDATE: What I need is a way to connect 1.user input(as geometry points) 2.Routing algorithm I have written 3.Road Network and return a result in terms of best way to go to a point
Please see the list of online routers and offline routers for OSM as well as the general wiki page about routing with OSM.
If that still doesn't answer your questions, ask a more specific one.