How To Plan, Dispatch, And Navigate Routes With A Route Planner

Managing deliveries, field service routes, or sales calls becomes increasingly complex as your address volume grows. Manually planning routes wastes time and leaves room for error, especially if you’re coordinating multiple drivers or depots. A route planner for multiple stops helps automate this process, enabling you to optimize routes, dispatch them instantly, and ensure your team navigates efficiently. With Route4Me, you can plan optimized routes in seconds, cut operational costs, and get more done with fewer resources. Learn more in this guide.

A multi-stop route planner like Route4Me helps you quickly plan, dispatch, and navigate efficient routes with fewer resources.

 

 

How to Plan Routes With the Route4Me Route Planner

Route4Me route planner is as easy to use as Google Maps. Uploading addresses on the multi stop route planner is even easier than manually typing your destinations on Google Maps. A capable route planner for logistics, delivery, and field service operations will help you improve operational efficiency and service more addresses in less time with fewer drivers and vehicles.

Here’s how you can plan a multi stop route on the Route4Me route planner:

 

1. Select Address Import Method

As opposed to Google Maps, the Route4Me multi stop route planner offers you the flexibility to use multiple methods to import addresses. You can choose to plan multi stop routes with addresses uploaded by copy-pasting or importing data from:

Adding multiple addresses on multi stop route planner by uploading spreadsheets, cloud data, scanned documents, etc.

 

2. Specify Optimization Parameters

After uploading your drop off locations into the route planner, you need to set optimization constraints as per your business needs. The Route4Me multi-stop route planner allows you to plan routes with limited:

Adding route optimization constraints, business rules, and customer variables to multi stop routes on route planner

 

3. Input Your Addresses into the Route Planner

Next, select the addresses you want to route. The Route4Me route planner doesn’t limit the number of stops you can include into a route. You can plan routes with as many shipping addresses and drop-off locations as you want. you can either choose to route the addresses uploaded during step one, or you can drop pins on a map to select different locations.

Selecting the addresses and drop off locations for planning a multi stop route on a route planner

 

4. See Addresses on the Map and Optimize the Route

As soon as will you finish adding your addresses, you will get a visual overview of the route stops on the map. At this point, all you have to do is to optimize your route and get the most time-effective and cost-efficient way to service all your stops.

Optimizing a multi stop route with geocoded addresses on route planner

 

5. Dispatch Route4Me Routes to Route Planner Apps

After planning and optimizing your multi stop route, the Route4Me route planner allows you to send it straight to your drivers’ phones. Your drivers can install the Route4Me iOS or Android route planner apps for free and then navigate the planned routes using the in-app voice GPS navigation. On the mobile route planner, your field service reps and drivers can mark stops as visited and departed, collect proof of delivery, and more.

Dispatching and sending planned routes to drivers' multi stop route planner apps with GPS navigation

 

Once your drivers or field sales reps receive their assigned routes, they can navigate them with the in-app GPS navigation. When using the Route4Me route planner app navigation, the stops will be sequenced in real-time as per traffic and other conditions at the time the navigation starts.

Navigating planned routes on multi stop route planner app for delivery drivers

Last Updated:

About author: Alex Yasko

Alex Yasko is the Go-to-Market Product Manager and Information Architecture Manager at Route4Me. With thousands of hours of experience, Alex specializes in breaking down complex last-mile optimization and routing scenarios into simple, actionable instructions, helping last-mile businesses streamline their operations effortlessly.

Other Questions in "How-To Last Mile Guides"

Route4Me

About Route4Me

Route4Me has over 40,000 customers globally. Route4Me's Android and iPhone mobile apps have been downloaded over 2 million times since 2009. Extremely easy-to-use, Route4Me's apps create optimized routes, synchronize routes to mobile devices, enable communication with drivers and customers, offer turn-by-turn directions, delivery confirmation, and more. Behind the scenes, Route4Me's operational optimization platform combines high-performance algorithms with data science, machine learning, and big data to plan, optimize, and analyze routes of almost any size in real-time.