Last Mile Route Planning Software Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, by using the Route4Me enterprise API, you can specify the frequency and the days during which certain addresses should be visited. The Route4Me optimizer engine will then try to sequence your route and will output the sequence for each section of the planned horizon.

Yes, Route4Me’s route planning software offers multiple sub-route optimization features that enable users to plan multiple routes with a single set of addresses. Specifically, with Route4Me, you can automatically split large numbers of addresses into multiple routes for multiple drivers. For example, you can enable Route4Mes’s route optimization engine to automatically create the most optimal number of equally sized routes with your addresses or orders.

Alternatively, you can also set a custom number of routes to be planned in the most time-efficient and cost-effective way possible. Or, when having to route hundreds of thousands of addresses simultaneously, you can use Route4Me’s Smart Zone Optimizations. This feature will help you geographically group addresses into easy-to-manage address clusters. Then, you can plan optimized routes with the addresses within each created Smart Cluster.

Plan Balanced Sub-Routes

With Route4Me, you can effortlessly plan routes with significant amounts of data using tools such as the Route Balancing Optimization and the Multiple Driver Route Optimization. The Route Balancing Route Optimization feature offers you the ability to plan multiple equally-sized routes concurrently. Moreover, this feature allows you to plan your balanced routes as per the following route parameters:

• Route distance
• Number of stops per route
• Route duration

Multi Driver Sub-Route Optimization

Similarly, with the Multi-Driver Route Optimization, you can plan multiple sub-routes at once. Only in this case, you can customize your sub-routes using multiple route optimization constraints. Namely, you can:

• Set limits for the maximum cubic volume and maximum weight distributed on each route
• Restrict the number of packages or pieces assigned per route
• Limit the maximum route distance and maximum route duration per route
• Set order priorities and factor in your customers’ delivery time windows
• And much more!

Sub-Route Optimization for Large Numbers of Addresses

With Route4Me advanced address management tools, you can effortlessly route hundreds of thousands of addresses in seconds. Specifically, Route4Me’s Smart Zone Optimizations feature enables you to split large sets of addresses into Smart Clusters. Then, within each cluster, you can plan a custom number of optimized sub-routes.

Additionally, Route4Me’s route planner gives you the ability to create address territories by simply drawing custom shapes on the map. Next, you can plan sub-routes with the addresses inside each territory.

If you liked this request for proposal (RFP) post about Route4Me’s sub-route optimization features, check out more Q&As!

Route4Me supports such route stop types as Delivery, Pickup, Break, Meetup, Service, Visit, and Drive By. Each destination type can be used for different last mile routing purposes. Route4Me’s proprietary route optimization engine takes into account each stop type when planning routes and outputs the most optimal visitation sequences.

You can define the stop type for each destination when uploading a route spreadsheet or on already planned routes. You can use Route4Me’s Route Editor to check and adjust route destination types on planned routes.

Depending on the type of each stop on the route, this route can have different route distances, route driving times, and other parameters. For example, Route4Me’s pick-up and drop-off route optimization allows you to plan routes with joint pickup and delivery address pairs. Route4Me automatically accounts for the destination type of each address and plans routes where each pick-up address is always visited before its paired drop-off.

Furthermore, having different destination types on your routes allows you to better account for your vehicles’ carrying capacity. For example, at Pick Up destinations, your vehicles will be loaded. At Delivery destinations, your vehicles will be unloaded. Route4Me will automatically track dynamic vehicle capacity and make sure your vehicles are not overloaded or underloaded.

Route stop types are also supported on Route4Me’s Android Route Planner and iOS Route Planner mobile apps. You can easily dispatch routes with delivery, pickup, service, and other stop types to your drivers’ smartphones or telematics devices.

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Yes, the Route4Me Route Planner enables you to split hundreds of thousands of addresses into a specific number of optimized routes. Moreover, you can also let our route optimization system automatically split your addresses into the most optimal number of routes.

Plan a Specific Number of Routes

Route4Me’s Route Balancing Constraint gives you the ability to split any number of addresses into a specific number of equally-sized routes. To do so, you’ll only have to import your customers’ addresses and establish how many routes you want to create. Then, our dynamic routing software will calculate and output the shortest and fastest routes in seconds.

This feature will help you find the perfect balance between the size of your team and your day-to-day workload. Thus, the Route Balancing Constraint can help you avoid overloading your team members’ schedules.

Once you plan your equally sized routes, Route4Me enables you to move stops between routes using the interactive timeline. Moreover, our system instantly synchronizes all the route changes across your drivers’ Android Route Planner and iOS Route Planner apps.

Let the Route Planner Decide How Many Routes to Plan

Similarly, the Multiple Drivers Route optimization is designed to help you plan multiple routes at once. But the difference between the two optimization types is that the Multi-Driver Route optimization will automatically split your addresses into the most optimal number of routes rather than allowing you to manually select a specific number of routes.

Moreover, Route4Me’s Multi-Driver route optimization offers you an additional layer of control and customization in terms of accounting for multiple routing business rules and optimization constraints. Specifically, when planning multi-driver routes, you can factor in constraints such as:

• Time windows and customer availability
• Maximum route duration and distance
• Maximum weight, revenue, number of packages
• And more!

If you liked this request for proposal (RFP) post about how you can plan a specific number of routes with Route4Me, check out more Q&As!

Yes, Route4Me’s Route Planner with truck routing features enables you to plan routes that account for multiple truck restrictions. For example, when planning truck routes, the system considers two constraints simultaneously. This way, your commercial vehicles only travel on pre-approved roads. Moreover, Route4Me also accounts for the vehicle’s weight and cubic volume capacity.

By contrast, when you plan a route for a regular vehicle, things get a lot simpler. For example, when routing a car, you don’t necessarily need to account for particular traffic constraints, road types, or overloads.

On that note, there are two types of restrictions that are important to consider when planning truck routes.

Route Planning With Truck Restrictions

First, there is the road network that your vehicles are allowed to travel on. This means that the vehicle’s unique height, weight, axle count, the presence of hazardous materials (HAZMAT route planning), and other restrictions force it to travel on pre-approved roads in order to prevent a dangerous accident or to comply with transportation laws.

Route4Me has a database of Class A truck route approved roads and will provide a turn-by-turn list of vehicle-specific directions.

Furthermore, you can easily transform your regular routes into truck routes with just a click of a button.

Truck Routing With Vehicle Parameter Constraints

The second thing to consider is that each fleet vehicle needs to have certain maximum limitations. For example, a box truck can only transport 10 pallets, and the weight of these pallets must not exceed 10 tons. Therefore, when you plan a route for your fleet of box trucks, our system will not produce a route that will exceed the maximum pallet count or the maximum weight for the box truck.

In addition to the commercial truck routing software features, Route4Me’s iOS Route Planner and Android Route Planner apps offer in-app commercial voice-guided vehicle navigation.

Learn how you can create vehicle profiles for your vehicle trucks.

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Yes, Route4Me provides multiple interactive route planning tools. In addition to planning routes with an uploaded file, the Route4Me Route Planner enables you to plan a route interactively using multiple methods. For example, you can pick addresses from the map by dropping pins on the interactive map. Moreover, Route4Me’s Route Planner gives you the ability to plan routes with addresses from Google Street View. You can also display all of your Address Book addresses on the map and select the addresses to be routed by drawing shapes on the map.

Draw and Drop Pins On the Map With Route4Me’s Interactive Route Planning Tools

Route4Me’s Interactive Map Editor enables you to plan routes by simply dropping pins on the map. In addition to picking addresses from the map, the Interactive Map Editor gives you the possibility to type in full or partial address information, and it will convert the inputted data into accurate, geocoded route stops.

As opposed to adding route stops one by one, Route4Me offers you the ability to select multiple customer addresses by drawing on the Address Book Map. Namely, you can free-handedly encircle multiple addresses right on the Address Book Map and plan routes with the selected addresses.

Both these methods will offer you an overview of your customers’ spatial arrangement in real-time as you are mapping your routes.

Google Street View Route Planning

Another way you can plan a route interactively with Route4Me is by using Google Street View Routing. Specifically, you can pick route stops while virtually navigating with Google Street View. This way, you can ensure that your routes contain only real-life locations.

Moreover, this capability is especially useful when you need to route specific locations without knowing their addresses.

Learn more about Route4Me’s Google Street View route planning feature.

If you liked this request for proposal (RFP) post about Route4Me’s interactive route planning tools, check out more Q&As!

Yes, Route4Me’s route optimization software enables you to change all the route attributes of your planned routes at any time. For example, you can rename routes, modify the route schedule, reassign users to the opened route, replace the assigned vehicle, and more. Having the ability to edit your planned multi-stop routes gives you the freedom to account for unpredictable customer requirements and last-minute changes. Moreover, you are able to modify your routes’ parameters while using both the Route Optimization Web Platform and the Android Route Planner or iOS Route Planner apps.

Adjusting the Route Attributes on the Route Optimization Web Platform

Since last-minute changes are second nature to almost all last mile businesses, Route4Me offers you the possibility to make dynamic changes to your route settings. For instance, on the Route4Me Route Optimization Web Platform, you can:

• Rename planned routes
• Change the route schedule
• Choose a different route end optimization scenario (i.e., round trip, end the route at any address, end the route at the last address)
• Switch from navigating by time to navigating by current time with traffic
• Reassign the route to another driver and vehicle

Moreover, when planning multi-driver routes, you can change the route settings of each created route individually.

Changing the Route Settings Using the Route Planner Apps

Similarly, you can plan and optimize multi stop routes using the Route4Me Android Route Planner and iOS Route Planner apps. Then, you can change the settings of your routes as necessary. For example, the route planner apps offer you the ability to:

• Change the name of your routes
• Replace the current optimization type with another one (round trip, lock last destination, end anywhere, etc.)
• Reschedule your route by choosing a different route start time
• Re-optimize route directions for the shortest travel time or the shortest travel time with traffic

In a nutshell, you can use any of Route4Me’s route planning solutions to plan, manage, and edit your routes. Furthermore, the system automatically syncs all the changes you make to planned routes across all the devices of different users associated with your Route4Me account.

Learn more about:

• How to adjust the route settings on the Android Route Planner app
• How you can change the route parameters on the iOS Route Planner app

If you liked this request for proposal (RFP) post about how to adjust the route attributes of your planned routes using Route4Me’s route optimization solutions, check out more Q&As!

Whenever a route is uploaded to Route4Me an improvement percentage is calculated by comparing the original driving distance and the post-optimization driving distance of the route. The original route is always available for review and can be enabled in the route settings button.

You can upload all your old routes into Route4Me and it will optimize them for you while simultaneously preserving the original route that you uploaded. By enabling the “Show Original Route” menu item, you will be able to compare the original and optimized route on the same map.

If you erased one or more routes, the routes can only be recovered by a Route4Me support team member as a result of an emergency and on a case-by-case basis.

Unrouted destinations are created when you plan a time windows team route with constraints that cannot accommodate all the stops in the list.

Yes, Route4Me’s route planning software features multiple route optimization tools that enable you to plan routes for multiple drivers. For example, our system can determine the most optimal number of equally-sized routes to be planned from a single set of addresses. Additionally, you can also manually define the number of routes that the system has to calculate and output. Moreover, when creating a custom number of routes, you have the ability to factor in multiple route optimization rules.

The Perfect Number of Routes for Multiple Drivers

With Route4Me’s Route Balancing Constraint, you can split a single selection of addresses into a custom number of routes (parts) with just a click of a button. To do so, you have to:

1. Go to the “Optimizations” tab in the route parameters menu
2. Select the “Balanced Team Optimization“
3. Type the number of routes you want to plan in the field next to “Parts“

And you’re all set!

Planning a Specific Number of Multi-Driver Routes

Moreover, Route4Me’s Multiple Drivers Route Optimization allows you to constrain your routes based on a predetermined number of delivery agents. With the Multiple Drivers Route Optimization, Route4Me processes all imported customer addresses or orders and automatically outputs the most optimal number of optimized routes.

When using this optimization type, you can adjust multiple route settings that help you customize your multi-driver routes as per your unique business needs. For instance, you are able to account for:

• Your customers’ preferred delivery times
• Fleet vehicles’ loading and carrying capacity
• The maximum route distance and route duration
• A custom number of stops per route
• And many other route optimization constraints!

Creating Routes for Multiple Drivers With Route4Me’s Smart Address Clusters

Furthermore, when having hundreds of thousands of destinations to route, Route4Me offers you the ability to split your addresses into the most optimal number of easy-to-manage Smart Address Clusters. Next, you can plan multi-driver routes within each cluster using the Balanced Team Optimization or the Multiple Drivers Route Optimization.

Learn more about Route4Me’s Smart Optimizations and Address Clusters.

If you liked this request for proposal (RFP) post about planning routes for multiple drivers with Route4Me’s route optimization software, check out more Q&As!

Yes, Route4Me’s route optimization software features multiple dynamic route planning tools that allow users to plan routes that factor in various optimization rules and dynamically make route changes. For example, with Route4Me, you can plan routes that account for customers’ availability, fleet vehicles’ loading and carrying capacity, custom limits for route distance and route duration, etc. Moreover, with Route4Me’s near real-time data synchronization, you can always factor in new dynamically changing constraints into your already planned routes and dispatch all live changes to drivers’ mobile devices with a touch of a button.

Dynamic Route Planning With Route Optimization Constraints

Route4Me’s route planning software gives you the ability to plan routes with multiple types of dynamic optimization constraints. Specifically, when planning routes, you can factor in different customer, driver, vehicle, and route business rules, including:

• Time windows and customer availability
• Order priority
• Pieces per route
• Maximum weight per vehicle
• A vehicle’s maximum cubic volume per route
• Maximum number of routes and stops per route
• The maximum amount of revenue that can be generated per route
• Maximum route distance
• And more!

In addition to the multiple route optimization rules, Route4Me enables you to also dynamically track the capacity of your vehicles.

Instant Route Data Sync on Route4Me’s Route Planner Apps

Subsequently, our software offers you the ability to make dynamic changes to your planned routes. Particularly, you can edit the route settings of any route – including your in-progress routes. And the system automatically syncs the newly added route modifications across your drivers’ Android Route Planner and iOS Route Planner apps in real-time.

Furthermore, Route4Me provides advanced tracking tools for you to dynamically track the progress of your drivers in near real-time. Specifically, you can:

• Simultaneously track multiple drivers on an interactive map
• View the electronic proof of delivery (ePOD) files uploaded by your drivers in real-time
• Coordinate your field employees through a live driver chat
• Use Route4Me’s live Activity Stream to monitor driver activity
• And more!

If you liked this request for proposal (RFP) post about Route4Me’s dynamic route planning features, check out more Q&As!

Yes, Route4Me can calculate route fuel expenses on planned and optimized routes. All you need to do is set up custom fuel prices and vehicle fuel consumption parameters. Route4Me will automatically calculate the fuel costs, accounting for route metrics, vehicle parameters, and gas prices.

Vehicle Fuel Consumption and Fuel Prices

To automatically calculate fuel costs, you need to set up the current fuel prices in the Fuel Costs Editor. We recommend setting up fuel costs at the beginning of each workday. In this way, you will always have the most accurate and up-to-date fuel prices and fuel expenses statistics.

After that, set up the fuel consumption parameters of your vehicles.

Automatically Calculate Route Fuel Expenses

After setting up fuel prices and vehicle fuel consumption, you can plan your routes as usual. Finally, to check the fuel costs on specific routes, assign the preferred vehicles to the routes you want to track.

Route4Me will automatically calculate the fuel costs, accounting for the fuel prices, vehicle fuel type, vehicle fuel consumption, total route distance, and other parameters. In this way, we can provide the most accurate and realistic fuel expense statistics.

Furthermore, the fuel costs are then permanently stored in Route4Me and associated with each respective route. Thus, even though fuel prices change rapidly over time, Route4Me can still show you the original fuel costs for already completed routes.

Reporting and Analytics Routing Dashboard

With Route4Me’s Analytics and Reporting Dashboard, you can get routing statistics for various types of routing and logistics operations. For instance, Route4Me can show you planned and actual route distances, planned and visited stops, etc. In this way, you can easily compare your planned fuel expenses and actual consumed fuel.

Moreover, Route4Me can collect routing statistics for calculating fuel expenses from all connected devices. For example, your drivers can complete routes using Route4Me’s Android Route Planner and iOS Route Planner apps. The apps will then sync the collected data so you can check the respective fuel statistics.

Routing CO2 Emissions Statistics

Additionally, Route4Me also enables you to control your CO2 emissions more efficiently. For example, Route4Me’s Routing Dashboard can show you the carbon dioxide emission of your entire fleet. Equally important, you can filter CO2 emissions statistics by user and vehicle, time period, and more.

If you liked this request for proposal (RFP) post about calculating route fuel expenses, check out more Q&As!

Yes, Route4Me supports all types of last mile routing, including optimized routing for commercial and residential destinations, community mailboxes, and parcel lockers. With Route4Me, you can specify whether you want to optimize your routes for commercial or regular vehicles, and the system will automatically output the most cost-effective route(s) that will navigate to the corresponding load and delivery points using the most efficient commercially and legally-approved roads.

Yes, in addition to the most optimal navigation directions, Route4Me also provides route sequence optimization that allows you to place your addresses in the most optimal visitation order. By optimizing your routes for the most efficient sequence, you get the shortest route distances and durations that allow you to cut your fuel expenses, reduce the amount of required work-hours, minimize the number of required vehicles and team members, and drive down other operating costs.

Fuel costs are currently set manually. However, Route4Me can integrate with other APIs to pull in the fuel costs dynamically.

Yes, the Route4Me Route Planner provides multiple solutions for curbside delivery and pickup. For example, you can plan optimized routes for curbside delivery, click and collect, contactless delivery, etc. Also, you can manage your entire curbside pickup or BOPIS operations with Route4Me’s Curbside Pickup app. Furthermore, the Curbside Pickup app gives your customers the ability to track the status of their curbside orders on a tracking page.

Route Planning for Curb-Side Delivery

Curbside delivery is the go-to delivery method for heavy packages. Plus, curbside delivery is faster and more cost-effective than threshold delivery.

To help you deliver even more packages, save time, and make more money, Route4Me’s route optimization software enables you to plan the most time-efficient and cost-effective curbside delivery routes. With Route4Me, you can plan a route for curbside delivery with just a few clicks.

Manage Curbside Pickup Orders on the Curbside Pickup App

Route4Me’s Curbside Pickup app is designed for receiving, processing, and fulfilling your buy online pickup in store (BOPIS), clothes pickup, and any other curbside pickup or in-store pickup orders. With the Curbside Pickup app, you can successfully leverage a contactless curbside pickup model with ease. Particularly, the Curbside Pickup app offers you the necessary solutions to:

• Receive and process curbside pickup orders
• Manage multiple curbside pickup locations
• Set dynamic curbside pickup order statuses
• Enable customers to track their orders on the Customer Tracking Portal
• And more!

Furthermore, you can integrate our Curbside Pickup app with any eCommerce platform available on today’s market. As a result, you can easily import your orders into the app.

Learn more about:

• The curbside pickup confirmation and QR code scanning features
• Route4Me’s Curbside pickup tracking page for customers

If you liked this request for proposal (RFP) post about Route4Me’s curbside delivery and pickup solutions, check out more Q&As!