Route planning software for a travelling salesman

mightyjack

I'm after some route software that will basically stop me having to enter each postcode I am calling at individually, does it exist? In an ideal world I would input all postcodes before setting off and it'll optimally route me whilst checking off each call once I've arrived then automatically guiding me to the next call

Neil_Jones

Google Maps lets you enter a bunch of postcodes in the order you enter them and will then guide you accordingly from stop to stop.

mebu60

Neil_Jones said:

Google Maps lets you enter a bunch of postcodes in the order you enter them and will then guide you accordingly from stop to stop.

If I've understood the OP correctly he is looking for something that will optimise the route i.e. he can input the postcodes in any order and the software will calculate the best route, reordering the locations as necessary. 

mightyjack

mebu60 said:

Neil_Jones said:

Google Maps lets you enter a bunch of postcodes in the order you enter them and will then guide you accordingly from stop to stop.

If I've understood the OP correctly he is looking for something that will optimise the route i.e. he can input the postcodes in any order and the software will calculate the best route, reordering the locations as necessary. 

I currently use routexl to optimize the stops however I need to sort of link that optimized route into something like waze then hopefully I won't have to enter each stop manually.....I think I've just answered my own question!

DullGreyGuy

mightyjack said:

I'm after some route software that will basically stop me having to enter each postcode I am calling at individually, does it exist? In an ideal world I would input all postcodes before setting off and it'll optimally route me whilst checking off each call once I've arrived then automatically guiding me to the next call

How many stops per route?

This is normally commercial software and often built into a wider system for a multi-drop courier company than stand alone; as such it comes at a commercial price. 

XLRoute will do up to 20 stop routes for free and you can upload the addresses as a spreadsheet or such but it has a daily/monthly fee if you need more.

Things like MyRouteOnline and Circuit look much better until you see their pricing. 

If you want a phone app then you can see plenty of options in the Android store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapamai.maps.batchgeocode&hl=en_GB 

mightyjack

DullGreyGuy said:

mightyjack said:

I'm after some route software that will basically stop me having to enter each postcode I am calling at individually, does it exist? In an ideal world I would input all postcodes before setting off and it'll optimally route me whilst checking off each call once I've arrived then automatically guiding me to the next call

How many stops per route?

This is normally commercial software and often built into a wider system for a multi-drop courier company than stand alone; as such it comes at a commercial price. 

XLRoute will do up to 20 stop routes for free and you can upload the addresses as a spreadsheet or such but it has a daily/monthly fee if you need more.

Things like MyRouteOnline and Circuit look much better until you see their pricing. 

If you want a phone app then you can see plenty of options in the Android store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapamai.maps.batchgeocode&hl=en_GB 

Well I do actually currently use RouteXL for its free service of upto 20 stops, I was hoping I could then integrate the route xl file with waze which doesn't seem possible I can however use google maps or even link the RouteXL file to my actual BMW sat nav. I prefer the waze layout but hey ho 

DullGreyGuy

MyRouteOnline integrates with Waze for actually doing the journey but its a per unique address fee so if you are doing the same 50 addresses all the time, but maybe in different daily combinations then its not too bad at £14/month but if you are potentially doing 700 different addresses per month then its £89/month.  For light users you can just buy a load of addresses and they have to be used within the year (they are higher fees though than the above - 50 is £19 rather than £14)