Smart planning with Route Planner
How to organize and adapt visits to clients and suppliers
Planning a route also involves knowing how to change it.
When we think about route planning, we usually imagine a route defined from the start of the day. But in practice, operations are constantly changing. An unscheduled visit appears, a client requests urgent attention, or a situation simply arises that requires a reorganization of the work.
Therefore, route planning is not just about deciding where each vehicle should go. It also involves having tools that allow you to adjust those decisions when the day takes a different turn than planned.
In AVVIO, these changes can be managed directly from the main map, without needing to navigate to other areas of the platform. From a single view, it's possible to monitor the operation and make the necessary adjustments more quickly and easily.
"Tap": assign a destination from the map
Tap allows you to directly select a point on the map and use it as your destination.
From that location, Route Planner identifies the closest vehicle to handle the task. However, proximity isn't always the only criterion. That vehicle might already be committed to another activity, unavailable for some reason, or there might be a more convenient option depending on the operation.
Therefore, after setting the destination, it is always possible to decide which vehicle to send, combining the information provided by the system with the criteria of the person coordinating the fleet.
"Landmarks": working with frequently used locations
Many companies regularly visit the same places, whether they are customers, suppliers, warehouses, service centers, among others.
Landmarks , also known as points of interest, allow you to save locations for later use, eliminating the need to search for them again each time you plan a trip. When you select a landmark, Route Planner uses the current location of your vehicles to help identify which ones can most efficiently serve each destination.
Polygon and circle: limit the search to a specific area
It doesn't always make sense to consider the entire fleet when assigning a task. In many cases, it's more useful to work only with the units located within a specific area.
With the polygon and circle options, you first define the destination you want to reach, either by selecting it on the map, adding it via an address, or using coordinates. Then, you delimit the area from which you want to consider the vehicles. If you select the polygon option, it allows you to draw a custom zone on the map using four points, while the circle option defines the area using a radius around a point.
Once the area is defined, “Route Planner” only considers the units located within it to identify which one can best serve that destination.
The logic can be summarized in three questions:
Where do I need to go?
Which units do I want to consider?
Which one of them can serve that destination?
An everyday example
Imagine a day that began with all visits planned. Midway through the day, an unexpected request arises.
The manager can mark the new destination and check which units are best positioned to serve it. If they only want to consider vehicles from a specific area, they can define the area with a polygon or circle before making a decision. And if the initially suggested unit has a different priority, the assignment can be adjusted immediately without having to recalculate the entire route.
Unexpected events still exist. What changes is the ease of responding to them with the information available.
More than finding a route
Route planning goes far beyond figuring out how to get from point A to point B. It also involves understanding where the units are, which ones are available, and how to react when the operation changes.
Tools like "Route Planner" help precisely with that task. They don't prevent changes from arising during the day, but they do make it easier to adapt when the plan needs adjusting.
Ultimately, good planning is not about never changing, but about being able to adapt when the operation requires it.
Comments