A vehicle search by distance and direction allows a customer to pick and drop off at a location most convenient to them. Choosing the right provider and location is the key to optimize their travel itinerary, as a customer would like to search for a car vendor that is located as close to his arrival as possible. The Distance and Direction modifiers allow a user to search for cars by including a distance (Direction and Miles) parameter from a particular location (like Terminal, CityCenter, or Downtown).
Request
In addition to the minimum required data for a Vehicle Search, the car distance options are added as attributes of the VehicleSearchAvailabilityRequest/VehicleSearchModifiers/SearchDistance.
When using the SearchDistance modifier with distance and direction in the search criteria:
- Distance can be a number or a range.
- 000-020: Distance between ZERO and 20 MLES
- 030: 30 Miles from Reference point.
- Direction can be a single direction or a combination
- N : North (South,East,West)
- SW: South West
Unit
For Distance@Units, two unit types are available:
- Km: Kilometers
- Mi: Miles
Default: If the unit is not included in the request, the default is Miles (Mi).
Direction
For Distance@Direction, Direction can be a single direction or a combination:
- N: North (South, East, West) (e.g.: <DistDir>001MN-999</DistDir> )
- NW: North West (e.g.: <DistDir>001MNW-999</DistDir> )
Distance
There are two distance modifiers, Minimum and Maximum: Distance @MinDistance and Distance @MaxDistance.
Distance can be a number or a range.
- Number: 030 = 30 Miles from Reference point.
- Range: 000-020 = Distance between ZERO and 20 MILES.
Limit: 3 Bytes (max Limit = 999) (E.g. : <DistDir>800MNW-999</DistDir>)
Default: When only a single two- or three-digit number is in the request, the default starting range = 000. For example, if Distance = 30, then <DistDir>000MN -030</DistDir>)
Both the Distance and Direction are sent in one field. The acceptable values are:
- <DistDir>000MN -040</DistDir>: Read as 000 - 040 Miles North of the Reference point.
- <DistDir>010MW-030</DistDir>: Read as 10 – 40 Miles west of the Reference point.
Response
A standard Vehicle Search response is returned in VehicleSearchAvailabilityRsp, in \VehicleDateLocation\VendorLocation\Distance\, with either @Units, @Value, or @Direction.
Units
In the \Distance\Units, the units can be returned two ways:
- Km: Kilometers
- Mi: Miles
Value
In the \Distance\Value, values for distance can be a number or a range:
-
<Dist><![CDATA[ 0]]></Dist> Read as 0 Miles
- <Dist><![CDADTA[ 1]]></Dist> Read as 1 Mile
- <Dist> 11</Dist> Read as 11 Miles
Direction
In the \Distance\Direction, values for direction can be a single direction or a combination:
- <Dir>NW</Dir>: Read a North West (Can be displayed as NW)
- <Dir>N</Dir>: Read as North (Can be displayed as N)
