Apple’s MapKit makes it very easy to get directions from one coordinate to another. Let us see how to use this to show a route on an MKMapView.

First, make the ViewController conform to the MKMapViewDelegate protocol.

and make sure the outlet of the map view is attached and the delegate is set.

mapView.delegate = self

Now write this method for showing the route. This method performs the following actions

  1. Takes 2 coordinates as parameters
  2. Fetches direction between the 2 points
  3. Displays the fetched route on the map
  4. Zooms the map to the route area.
    func showRouteOnMap(pickupCoordinate: CLLocationCoordinate2D, destinationCoordinate: CLLocationCoordinate2D) {

        let request = MKDirections.Request()
        request.source = MKMapItem(placemark: MKPlacemark(coordinate: pickupCoordinate, addressDictionary: nil))
        request.destination = MKMapItem(placemark: MKPlacemark(coordinate: destinationCoordinate, addressDictionary: nil))
        request.requestsAlternateRoutes = true
        request.transportType = .automobile

        let directions = MKDirections(request: request)

        directions.calculate { [unowned self] response, error in
            guard let unwrappedResponse = response else { return }
            
            //for getting just one route
            if let route = unwrappedResponse.routes.first {
                //show on map
                self.mapView.addOverlay(route.polyline)
                //set the map area to show the route
                self.mapView.setVisibleMapRect(route.polyline.boundingMapRect, edgePadding: UIEdgeInsets.init(top: 80.0, left: 20.0, bottom: 100.0, right: 20.0), animated: true)
            }

            //if you want to show multiple routes then you can get all routes in a loop in the following statement
            //for route in unwrappedResponse.routes {}
        }
    }

Also, write the following delegate function to render the line showing the route. This can be customised in color and width according to your preference.

//this delegate function is for displaying the route overlay and styling it        
func mapView(_ mapView: MKMapView, rendererFor overlay: MKOverlay) -> MKOverlayRenderer {
     let renderer = MKPolylineRenderer(overlay: overlay)
     renderer.strokeColor = UIColor.red
     renderer.lineWidth = 5.0
     return renderer     
}

Now, let us call this with some sample coordinates from our viewDidLoad method.

//create two dummy locations
let loc1 = CLLocationCoordinate2D.init(latitude: 40.741895, longitude: -73.989308)
let loc2 = CLLocationCoordinate2D.init(latitude: 40.728448, longitude: -73.717996)

//find route
showRouteOnMap(pickupCoordinate: loc1, destinationCoordinate: loc2)

You should be able to see a route on the map now!

…