Routing update: building routes for all use case scenarios

Transport services are getting more complicated, and dispatchers have to consider a growing number of factors to build an efficient and cost-effective route. Of course, you know that: your clients must have contacted you thousands of times seeking the most efficient route optimization tool.

Wialon has you and your clients covered in all cases, and routing won’t be an exception. To streamline route creation and optimization for a fleet of any size and vehicle mix, we have updated Routing – an in-built Wialon tool to build the most efficient routes. 

The new version is released. Discover what benefits it’s about to bring to your clients and how it will change your work. 

Why we update the Routing tool

Meet Fleeto Magito, a freight company with a fleet of over 100 vehicles. They offer a full range of shipping services and work with all cargo types. Their manager Jim starts his working day with plotting a route to carry toxic fumes from point A to point B and avoid seasonal roads that are not secure enough. On top of this, the delivery time should be the shortest, while the driver needs to avoid crossing two to three countries on the way (paper issues), not to forget about occasional roadworks and peak hours. Sounds like a brain teaser? Hold on, that’s just the start of the day. 

For many years, Routing in Wialon has been helping dispatchers and transport companies create optimized and budget-friendly routes. But cargo transportation is getting more complicated than ever. Routing needs to transform as well to stay efficient. 

Here’re the factors we took into most serious consideration when the Routing update was underway. 

• Considering more criteria to build a route. Of course, fleet owners want their cargo to reach the destination point as quickly as possible. But also, they are willing to ensure safety on the road, avoid heavy traffic, reduce fuel costs, minimize wear and tear on their vehicles, and so on. And this is only a basic scenario.
• Working with task- or industry-specific challenges. The market of map service providers is so abundant today that more niche products appear on it. For example, some are designed for light commercial vehicles, while others focus on the trucking industry. Your client may be accustomed to using a certain provider or needs very specific functionality for their particular case. To ensure such diversity, the Routing tool in Wialon needed more integrations.
• An updated user-friendly design. Trends in web and mobile app design are evolving constantly (we’ve elaborated on that in our blog post dedicated to the Wialon UX/UI upgrade). To keep our tool’s user interface design as user-centric as possible, we need to introduce changes to its look and feel. This helps your client enjoy the product and understand its logic right away. 
• More control over maps to Wialon’s partners. In the previous version, one had to contact the Wialon support team to gain access to map services and start using them on a website. We wanted to make partners more autonomous and provide them with full control over maps in Wialon.

What has changed to the Routing tool

UX/UI upgrade

To ensure a smooth and fluid experience, we have fully revisited the Routing UX/UI. First of all, our team has focused on improving work with points.

Now the user has two ways to define them in Routing by:

• clicking on the map; 
• entering an address.

This way we’ve simplified the process of adding new points and deleting them, as well as rearranging their order.

When the user wants to make a certain point the center of the map, they click on the Target button in the Routing window.

The Routing UX/UI has become so intuitive and seamless that an employee of any level of technical skills can master its navigation and control quickly and simply.

Integration with map service providers

Now the Routing tool in Wialon features wider use of the current services (Google Maps, Mapbox, Namaa, etc.) and three more integrations with map service providers: Sygic, HERE, Trimble.

Your clients may have their own preferences. For example, many of Wialon’s users in North America tend to choose Trimble because the US solution historically holds the biggest share of the regional market. Our mission is to equip you with all the tools your clients may ask for – and the newly added integrations are another step in this direction.

Working with different types of vehicles

Following different requirements and restrictions set for various types of vehicles and cargo, we added extra criteria in the Routing window. Now the user can access the full potential of the purchased map service:

• choose a relevant set of parameters, be it an automobile, a truck, or a courier delivering parcels on foot; 
• indicate all sorts of restrictions that need to be taken into account when building a route. 

For example, for freight transportation it would include vehicle size and weight, a special cargo category (explosives, organic materials, etc.), and conditions to avoid, from toll roads to tunnels and ferries. Maybe the user transports dairy products and needs to get to the destination point as fast as possible – then they choose this approach in the route creation method. 

Does your client aim to reduce fuel costs? We have the Shortest route option as the other method. Also, the user can check traffic at a current moment and for any period in the future. What’s more, they are free to exclude a country so that a vehicle won’t cross its border. If the user wants to see alternative routes or let Wialon optimize the points order for better results, the Routing tool has special tick boxes for this.

Routing also works with on-foot delivery services.

Ensuring optimized route creation algorithms 

Wialon has its own algorithms under the hood to create the most relevant route in terms of time and distance. Within the current release, we have added a new feature – optimization of the points order. This helps dispatchers to rebuild a route for a more efficient itinerary. 

What has changed to the CMS

For full control over map service provider integration and configuration, we’ve transferred the management tools to the CMS. Now only the owner of the top account, i.e. a Wialon partner, has full control over map services.

Now you can do the following:

• select a map service provider and tools from its offering for a given client’s project;
• control and adjust the selected tools in line with your client’s requests: basemap; routing; geocoding; distance matrix;
• insert keys from a map service provider into a website from the list right in the top account without turning to the Wialon support team (to add a new website to the list, however, please contact our support team at support@wialon.com);
• select websites where the selected map service will function;
• have every request to a third-party map service provider logged and deciphered upon request.

On top of that, we’ve added a new Routing source block to the Maps tab in the user settings in Wialon. Now the user can check the list of map, routing, and geodata sources available in their account and select those they want to work with in Wialon. 

Conclusion 

The updated Routing tool is available now. You can find more information about Routing in our Help Center. Test it to see how its extended functionality can enhance your services. And of course, we’ll be waiting for your feedback at support@wialon.com and on the Wialon forum. 

In the meantime, stay tuned and subscribe to our blog updates for timely notifications about new releases.