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The scope spans from professional practitioners using specialized optimization software to commuters and tourists navigating the built environment. The paper explores how LLMs may simultaneously strengthen underlying optimization processes and improve user interfaces \u2014 in particular by enhancing transparency, interactivity, and explainability. The study identified various opportunities for LLMs to enhance routing systems by, for example, enabling nuanced translation of (implicit) user input into personalized and context-aware route generation. The integration of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) may enhance data fidelity and temporal relevance, while hybrid solver configuration and automated heuristic generation, as well as self-debugging mechanisms, are amongst the proposed application areas of LLMs. Advances in semantic routing may be especially pertinent for active travelers who rely on nuanced environmental attributes such as lighting, terrain, and perceived safety when selecting routes. Effectively capturing and incorporating such complex, multi-objective preferences into a route recommender system may support a broader adoption of sustainable, non-motorized modes of transport.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1142\/s1793351x26430038","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,18]],"date-time":"2026-07-18T01:26:37Z","timestamp":1784337997000},"page":"351-370","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Semantic Routing: Fusing LLMs and Combinatorial Optimization Problems within the Generative Problem Solving (GPS) Domain"],"prefix":"10.1142","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9974-2666","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maren","family":"Schnieder","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Bochum University of Applied Sciences, 44801 Bochum, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7941-1042","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Florian","family":"Schimanke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, HSW University of Applied Sciences, 31785 Hameln, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7056-4245","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mustafa","family":"Sert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA"},{"name":"Department of Computer Engineering, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1798-0215","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fabio","family":"Persia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science and Mathematics, University of L\u2019Aquila, L\u2019Aquila AQ 67100, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-3221-473X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chengheng","family":"Lyu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of EECS, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2270-7157","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gary B.","family":"Glesener","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Access Physical Models, LLC, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"219","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"S1793351X26430038BIB001","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/drones3030066"},{"key":"S1793351X26430038BIB002","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.inffus.2024.102413"},{"key":"S1793351X26430038BIB003","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10791-025-09752-6"},{"key":"S1793351X26430038BIB004","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/su13179771"},{"key":"S1793351X26430038BIB005","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/analytics2010001"},{"key":"S1793351X26430038BIB006","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10489-023-05212-0"},{"issue":"2","key":"S1793351X26430038BIB007","first-page":"100087","volume":"9","author":"Dahmane W. 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