How to Determine Whether a GPS Location Is on a Private or Public Road Using Route Matching API v8

Symptoms
------------

Customers may report one or more of the following:

Need to determine whether a vehicle is traveling on a public road or a private road.
Need to classify a single GPS position as public-road access or private-road access.
Require road access information for fleet, logistics, EV charging, or compliance workflows.
Need to retrieve the road attribute associated with a GPS coordinate.
Unsure how to identify the PRIVATE road attribute using HERE APIs.

Answer
----------

You can determine whether a GPS location is on a private road by submitting the coordinate to HERE Route Matching API v8 and requesting the PRIVATE attribute from the matched road link. If the response returns "PRIVATE": "Y", the matched road segment is classified as a private road. Any other value indicates the segment is not classified as a private road.

Root Cause
--------------

A GPS coordinate alone does not contain road ownership or access information. The coordinate must first be matched to the most probable road segment in the HERE map using Route Matching API v8. The required road-access information is then returned through map content attributes associated with the matched link.

Applicable Product
----------------------

HERE Route Matching API v8
HERE Routing and Map Content platform services

Recommended Action
----------------------

1. Submit the GPS coordinate to Route Matching API v8 as a CSV payload.
2. Request link attributes that include the PRIVATE field.
3. Review the returned matched link attributes.
4. Evaluate the value of the PRIVATE attribute:
Y = Private road
* Any other value = Not classified as a private road

###

### Example Request

POST https://routematching.hereapi.com/v8/match/routelinks?filetype=CSV&apiKey={YOUR_API_KEY}&attributes=LINK_ATTRIBUTE_FCn(PRIVATE)&mode=fastest;car&routeMatch=1

Request body:

latitude,longitude

-37.83537557488685,144.90697748596094

###

### Example Response Fragment

{ "attributes": { "LINK_ATTRIBUTE_FCN": [ { "PRIVATE": "Y" } ] } }

Impact
----------

This approach enables applications to distinguish between public-road travel and private-road travel for operational reporting, fleet monitoring, route validation, geofencing, and compliance-related use cases. Accuracy depends on successful map matching and the underlying road attributes available for the matched road segment.

Expected vs. Unexpected Behavior
------------------------------------

### Expected Behavior

A valid GPS location is matched to a road segment.
The API returns link attributes containing the PRIVATE value when requested.
PRIVATE = Y identifies a private road segment.

### Unexpected Behavior

No road segment is matched because the coordinate is invalid or outside mapped road coverage.
Required attributes are not requested in the API call.
The application interprets the road classification without first performing route matching.

Additional Reference
------------------------

HERE Route Matching API - Developer Guide
HERE Route Matching API - API Reference

Keywords / Tags
-------------------

Route Matching API v8, private road, public road, GPS coordinate, road classification, map matching, LINK_ATTRIBUTE_FCn, PRIVATE attribute, fleet management, road access, route analysis, HERE API, map content, vehicle tracking, location validation.