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Route planning
Routimo routes are planned in projects. A project can contain routes for a day, a week, a month, or any period in the future, defined by a start and end date. A project plans routes for 1 to 10 vehicles (a project can use more vehicles, but for clarity, usually plans up to 10).
[Project] is therefore a place for planning and generating the most optimal routes based on available [Vehicles], [Points], specific parameters and constraints.
We recommend creating your first project based on the basic route settings – to do this, follow the steps below.
Step 1 Plan your route
Clicking on the [Plan routes] tab in the side menu (blue bar on the left) will create a [Project] for the current day with a name, e.g. [Route 15.05.2023]. You can change the project name, date and other parameters by clicking on [Project]. The details of the settings will be described in detail in the "Project card" tab
Step 2 Add vehicles
You currently have no vehicles added. To create your first project, you can use the prepared sample file by clicking on the [Download sample] message or by expanding the [Upload from file] button, select:
- [Download sample file]
- Save the file to your computer
- [Upload from file]
- After uploading the file to the system, the [Points - column mapping] window will appear on the screen. This is a convenient "screen" that allows you to connect column names to fields in the system. For convenience, the system automatically maps the most frequently used column names and displays the first 2 values for each column.
- If changes to the default mapping are required, you can use the option:
a) drag the field name from the scrolling column on the right to the free area to the right of the column name,
b) To remove an assignment, double-click on the assigned field with a green checkmark.
c) click [Confirm] - the files are uploaded.
You can also add a vehicle by clicking [Add vehicle] or [Add from database]. You can also add a vehicle manually.
To add a vehicle, click the green [Add Vehicle] button at the top of the screen, then start by entering basic information about the car:
- Enter a [Name] – this could be “Vehicle 1”, the vehicle model “Ford Courier”, or the registration number – something that will allow you to easily identify the vehicle in the future.
- Fill in the starting address (the location from which the vehicle starts – company headquarters/base or driver's home) – [Street], [House number], [Postal code] and [City] (the more detailed the data, the better).
- [Work start time] and [Work end time] e.g. 8:00 and 16:00 – tasks will be scheduled in this time range.
- Click [Add] and we have the first vehicle on the list. If you want to add a second vehicle, go through the above steps again.
All [Vehicles] added to the [Project] using these methods will also be added to the main registry available in the [Vehicle Database]. The vehicle database will be discussed in more detail in the Guide/Creating a vehicle database.
We now have the [Vehicle] added so we can move on to the next step.
Step 3 Add points
You currently have no [Points] added. Adding [Points] to a [Project] works similarly to [Vehicles], except that in the case of [Points], it is best to upload them from a file.
You can also use the sample file here.
- Click on the [Upload from file] button
- Select [Download sample file]
- Save the file to your computer.
- Click [Upload from file] and browse for the saved file.
- After uploading the file to the system, the [Points - column mapping] window will appear on the screen. This is a convenient "screen" that allows you to connect column names to fields in the system. For convenience, the system automatically maps the most frequently used column names and displays the first 2 values for each column.
- If changes to the default mapping are required you can use the options:
a) Drag the field name from the scrolling column on the right to the empty area to the right of the column name.
b) To remove an assignment, double-click on the assigned field with a green checkmark.
c) Click [Confirm] - the files are uploaded.
Additionally, you can add points by clicking [Add point], [Add from database] (this option is only possible if you have previously added [Vehicles], e.g. in the [Vehicle database].
- Manual addition of a [Point] is done by [Add point] and then filling in the required fields, while the [Add from database] option is possible if we have previously entered points into the [Points database] (more on this in the [Points database] section.
- You can prepare the [Points] file yourself with columns such as: [Name], [Street], [House number], [Postal code] and [City] or use the form attached to [Upload from file].
Correctly entering address data will affect geolocation, hence it is necessary to verify the correctness of the entered addresses. Editing the entered address data will also be possible after uploading the file to Routimo.
The added [Points] allow us to move on to the next step.
Step 4 Generate route
If you have [Vehicles] and [Points] loaded into the project, it's time to generate a route by clicking the green [Generate routes] button. The [Generating routes] animation will appear on the screen. You can wait for it to finish by staying on the screen or go to another area of the application.
[Generating routes] for 1-2 vehicles and up to 200 points should take a minute or less.
Once [Generating Routes] is complete, the screen will refresh and the planned routes will appear.
Step 5 Routes - map
The next tab in the project is the [Routes - map] tab, where you draw the route that the vehicle or vehicles have to cover. From here you can send routes to your phone, generate a route for the day, approve routes for the day or export routes for the day.
The bar above the map displays the vehicle name (with the option to change the route color for a given vehicle) and an action bar. A blue rectangle with an arrow means that the route has not yet been approved. Clicking the icon will approve the route - it works the same as the button above, i.e. [Approve routes for the day]
The next icon indicates the assignment of a mobile user - if the user is correctly assigned, the icon lights up green, if it has not been assigned, the icon lights up blue. After clicking the icon, a window with mobile users will appear. From here, you can replace the user, add a new one or pair the device so that the driver receives an approved route. The [Eye] icon shows all routes on the map. After clicking the icon, the function of hiding a given route or all routes on the map is activated.
After clicking on the 3 dots, a list of options expands, such as:
- [Details] - contain data of the planned route including: [Mobile user], [Hours], [Distance] and [Points],
- [Optimize] – i.e. re-[Generate route] for a given {Vehicle] - useful if you have several routes in one project but you only want to optimize one, because, for example, a point on the route was deleted;
- [Export to file] – sends the report to an xlsx file;
- [Reverse waypoint order] – allows you to reverse the waypoints on the route
- [Replace vehicle] – allows you to replace a vehicle for a given route
- [Change delay] – allows you to enter a delay for a given vehicle
When working with a map, it happens that markers indicating the position of points are so close to each other that they obscure each other, making work difficult. Sometimes it also happens that there are several tasks to be performed at one address and there is no possibility to choose the right one. [Multipoints] come to the rescue - a solution that dynamically groups points that are close to each other. The multipoint icon differs from the typical point marker in its shape. The displayed number informs about the number of points in the multipoint, and the color depends on the number of grouped points. Clicking on the multipoint displays a list of points.
A very helpful function when creating routes is changing the order of points. If you want to change the order of visiting one or more points on the route, you can do this. You can freely rearrange them by grabbing the point with the left mouse button and dragging it to another place on the "timeline". You can also drag the point and place it on the route of another vehicle. If you need to reverse the order of points on the route, you can also do this by clicking the "3 dots" on the left side of the screen next to the selected route. A list with additional options will then expand, from which you should select "Reverse the order of points".
After changing the order of points, you should not regenerate the route because our program will ignore your changes and re-select the most optimal route based on the specified parameters and constraints.
Step 6 Routes - table
The last tab in the project is [Routes – table]. At the top of the screen we can see: [Routes] in our project, [Color], [Points], [Start], [End], [Work time] with hours and minutes of the entire route and [Distance] of the route in kilometers.
For each route there are icons on the right:
- [Confirm route] – after clicking, the icon will change to "approved"
- [Reverse the order of points] – the order of all points on this route will be changed
- [Replace vehicle] – allows you to replace a vehicle for a given route
- [Change delay] – allows you to enter a delay for a given vehicle
- [Mobile users] – using this function you can pair the route with your mobile device
- [Show on map] – the route that the vehicle or vehicles have to cover is drawn
After clicking on a specific route, a list of assigned points is displayed. The list contains the [Points] Names, [Addresses], [Start] and [End] for a given point, [Date of completion] which updates after the task is completed or not completed, [Driving time], [Duration] of the visit if it was specified in the project settings, [Distance], [Route], and [Status] of the task.
From this level, you can also change the order of the visited point or several points by grabbing the icon on the left side showing two parallel bars and moving the point to the selected position. In the [Route] column, there is a drop-down list of available vehicles for each point. If you click on it and select a vehicle from the list, your point will move to the selected route.
After changing the order of points, you should not regenerate the route because our program will ignore your changes and re-select the most optimal route based on the specified parameters and constraints.