Sometimes MotionTools (the driver app and dashboard) can show a different delivery distance than what you see when you check the same pickup and drop-off in Google Maps. In almost all cases, it’s not a bug or a miscalculation.

There are several reasons why distances can differ. The most common ones are differences in the vehicle type used for routing (bike vs. car), mismatches between an address and its underlying coordinates, or temporary road restrictions that one routing service knows about and another does not.

Please review the reasons below and see if one applies to your case before reaching out to support.

MotionTools calculates distance and time based on the requested vehicle type capability. This can lead to apparent distance mismatches when a driver's actual vehicle type differs from the one used in the original calculation.

A Tour created with bike capability shows distance and time estimates based on a bike route. Since drivers with larger vehicle capabilities can see Tours created for smaller ones, a car driver may also view and accept this Tour. However, bike and car routes can differ significantly—for example, a bike might take a ferry across a river (2.8 km), while a car must use a bridge (10.5 km).

When a car driver accepts the Tour, we recalculate the route based on their actual vehicle type. The driver will see updated stats in the app, and their earnings reflect the correct distance.

Exception: If a car driver is working under a bike capability — because they selected it themselves or an admin assigned it — the system treats them as a bike courier. In this case, stats and earnings will be based on the bike profile, not the car profile.

Sometimes what looks like a distance mismatch is actually a mismatch between the human-readable address and the actual coordinates of a stop.

Every stop in MotionTools has two pieces of location data: a human-readable address (e.g., "Musterstraße 55, 12345 Berlin") and GPS coordinates (e.g., 52.520008, 13.404954). MotionTools calculates distances based on the GPS coordinates.

When a user verifies a distance in Google Maps, they naturally copy and paste the street address. But if that address resolves to a different location than the coordinates (sometimes several kilometers away) the distances won't match.

This happens because geocoding isn't always precise. When Bookings come in through external integrations, the address and coordinates may have been generated by different systems. If you consistently see large discrepancies, the root cause is likely upstream — in the system that originally created the Booking.

When the correct coordinates are used, the distances should align closely.

Sometimes MotionTools and Google Maps show different distances because one routing service knows about a road closure or temporary restriction (like an accident) that the other doesn't.

MotionTools uses GraphHopper for routing calculations, while Google Maps uses its own routing engine. These services don't always have the same real-time traffic data.

If you notice a significant distance discrepancy and suspect a road closure, check for active construction zones, blocked streets, or temporary detours by: