Route Editor Guide – Open and Manage Planned Routes

The Route Editor is your primary tool for opening, tracking, and managing individual planned routes in the Route4Me business routing software. Any changes you make in the Route Editor are automatically synchronized with the Mobile Driver App, and any User activity on the Web Platform or app can be tracked in the Activity Feed. Use this guide to learn how to open and manage last mile routes, check route metrics and KPIs, modify optimization settings, track route progress in real-time, and more.

Route Editor Overview – Open And Manage Routes In The Route Editor

To open a planned route in the Route Editor, go to your Routes Page or Routes Map from the Navigation Menu. Then, right-click a route or click the Arrow Icon next to “Open Route” and select “Edit Route” from the menu.

Open Your Route4Me Routes Page

Route4Me’s Route Editor includes the following main sections:

1. Route Settings Toolbar at the top, where you can change route and optimization settings, assign drivers, assign vehicles, dispatch route notifications, etc.
2. Destinations List on the left, where you can open and manage all Destinations on the route.
3. Interactive Map in the middle, where you can view and track a route, enable additional map overlays, see summarized route data in the Summary Table, etc.
   NOTE: Click the Gear Icon to open map settings. Select road or satellite “Map Type“, enable “Map Layers” such as a live traffic overlay, Avoidance Zones, Territories, last synched Vehicle and User location, route directions, Geofences, and ETAs.
4. Route Dashboard on the right, where you can check route activity, metrics, progress, KPIs, vehicle utilization, etc.
   NOTE: The Route Dashboard is closed by default. Click the Divider Button to open or close the Dashboard.

Route Settings – Edit, Update, Re-Optimize, Reschedule Routes And More

The Route Editor Toolbar enables you to check the route’s current status and make quick route updates. Specifically, you can reschedule the route, assign a user, assign a vehicle, and dispatch route notifications. To change the route’s status, scheduled date, assigned user or vehicle, or to dispatch notifications, simply click the respective button.

Additionally, you can access the Route Settings panel from the Top Menu Bar. To do so, click “Edit” and select “Open Route Settings“. There, you can adjust the route’s settings to your liking and click the “Save” button to save your changes.

In the “General” section, you’ll find the following settings:

The “Schedule” section is where you can adjust a route’s scheduled start date, start time, and Service Time settings. Additionally, you can use the “Override service time” toggle to enter a new Service Time for all Destinations on the route. Learn more in the table below:

In the “Optimization” section, you can adjust route settings such as the travel mode, final Destination type, Traffic Slowdown and Service Time Slowdown, etc. You can also click “Go to Optimization Settings” to adjust the detailed route optimization parameters. Learn more in the table below:

With the settings in the “Restrictions” section, you can add or change route path restrictions. For example, you can make the route optimization algorithm avoid left turns, avoid no-go areas you’ve set in your account, etc. Learn more about restrictions and avoidance settings in the table below:

You can also insert addresses and Driver Breaks, export route data, and much more by using the Top Menu Bar. See the table below to learn about all available options and what they do.

Manage Destinations – Open Destination Info And Edit Destinations

In the Route Editor, you can move Destinations in the route sequence, copy Destinations, delete Destinations, and more. To edit a Destination in the route sequence, simply right-click the Destination in the Destinations List and select an option from the menu. See the available options and what they do in the table below.

You can also click and drag a Destination in the list to the desired sequence, and the route will automatically update. NOTE: After making changes to Destinations or route settings, re-optimize the route to ensure you have the most efficient driving directions.

To view and edit in-depth Destination information, left-click a Destination in the list or on the map to open its “Destination Info” panel. Fields with no associated information are hidden by default. To see all available fields, click the “Show All” toggle.

To edit or add information for the Destination, simply click a field and input the information you want to add. Learn more about the “Destination Info” fields in the table below:

Route Progress – Real-Time Statuses, ETAs And Progress Monitoring

When the assigned User starts the route and completes Destination visits, the route’s progress is automatically updated in the system. You can use the following tools to track route progress in the Route Editor:

1. Destinations List: you can easily see which destinations are “Done“, “Arrived“, and “Pending” respectively.
2. Interactive Map: completed Destinations have a different color than pending ones, making it easy to get and overview of route progress at a glance.
3. Summary Table: the “Progress” data column shows the percentage of completed Destinations.
4. Route Editor Dashboard: you can see the number of visited and remaining Destinations, late visits, planned route end time, etc.

You can also use the Activity Feed to get a detailed breakdown of all route activity, including progress updates. If you want to track route progress for multiple routes, you can use the Routes List, Routes Map, or the Operations Matrix.

GPS Tracking – Real-Time Driver And Telematics Vehicle Tracking

The Route Editor and Routes Map offer in-depth GPS driver and vehicle tracking on routes. To track the locations of drivers, vehicles, and assets on routes, click the Tracking Button in the top-right of the map and check the “Tracking Path” and “Breadcrumbs” boxes. Learn more about the available tracking options in the table below.

With tracking enabled, you’ll see a tracking path on the map and every location update of the assigned User and Vehicle shown as Breadcrumbs (blue dots). Hover over any Breadcrumb to see the corresponding tracking data of that location update.

In addition to tracking the location of Users and assets on routes, you can see detailed visit tracking deta. To do so, simply click a Destination to open it’s “Destination Info” panel and go to the “Visit Details” section.

Here, you can see the manually reported visit time and automatically geoefence detected visit time of a completed Destination in the respective fields. Reported times are based on when the assigned User marked the Destination as “Arrived” and “Done” on the Mobile App. Detected times are immutable timestamps based on the detected arrival and departure using Destination Geofencing. Hover over a timestamp in the “Visit Details” section to show the Eye Icon. Click the icon to see detailed “Arrival” and “Departure” tracking data, including exact times and coordinates.

Activity Feed – Real-Time Route Events, Activities, Completed Tasks

The Route Editor Activity Feed shows a chronological log of completed activities, tasks, and events on the opened route. To open the Activity Feed, click the Divider Button on the right side of the map and then click the Activity Feed Tab.

In the Activity Feed, you can check when the driver or User assigned to the route visited and left specific Destinations, attached notes and proof of visit, when any User made route updates directly from your trusted route planner software, and more.

Route Dashboard – Route Totals, Real-Time Progress, KPIs And Vehicle Utilization

The Route Editor Dashboard shows the route’s metrics, real-time route progress, vehicle utilization, and other dynamic route details. Click the Arrow Button to the right of the map. In the Dashboard Tab, you can check the route’s ETAs, stop visitation progress, Time Window adherence, etc. Learn more in the table below:

Summary Table – Customizable Route Data Summary In Route Editor

The Summary Table along the bottom of the Route Editor Map is a customizable aggregate route data table. Here, you can easily see the most relevant route metrics for your use case. To custimize the data columns of the Summary Table, click the Gear Icon to open the “Display Columns” panel.

Simply check the boxes next to the data columns you want to add to the table. You can re-order data columns by dragging them up or down in the “Arrange columns” section. Once you’re satisfied with your Summary Table settings, click the “Apply” button to save your changes. Use the table below to learn about all the available data columns:

Mobile App Sync – Real-Time Route Editor Mobile App Synchronization

Route4Me delivers seamless real-time route data synchronization between the Mobile Driver App and Business Route Optimizer. In detail, drivers and field team members can use Route4Me’s Mobile Android Route Planner and iOS Route Planner apps to navigate routes, add destination statuses, attach proof of visit and delivery, etc. Route4Me automatically synchronizes route changes from the mobile app, and you can instantly see route updates in the Route Editor.

Similarly, managers, route planners, or dispatchers can use the Web Platform Route Editor to insert or remove route stops, resequence addresses, reschedule routes, and make other route modifications. Accordingly, drivers and field team members will instantly have their routes updated on mobile apps in real-time.