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PINPOINTING SOLUTIONS
By Aaron Huff, eTrucker, June 2008
Even minor mistakes in routing vehicles
result in wasted fuel and mileage, late deliveries and unsafe driver
maneuvers. Mapping and mileage systems have been around for years, but
advancements in computer and Internet technology allow suppliers to
provide sophisticated solutions at costs that are increasingly
affordable. Providers are incorporating more dynamic real–time
information, robust algorithms and turn–by–turn navigation to give
drivers the tools they need to maximize the efficiency and safety of
every mile.
Multiple versions
Keeping routing software current traditionally has required manual
updates on servers and desktops. Although vendors continue to mail
updates and new versions on CDs every few months, most now offer more
frequent updates via downloads from their websites.
Every two weeks, Rand McNally includes an update for new road
construction that is available for its PC–based IntelliRoute software.
The company also constantly is exploring ways to include real–time
traffic and weather updates into IntelliRoute, says Amy Krouse, a
consultant for Rand McNally.
ProMiles sends quarterly updates to customers via CD and frequent
downloads through its website. For no additional charge, customers
also can get real–time fuel price information for each route as well
as optimal fuel purchase plans. Other sources of real–time
information, such as traffic or road construction, are not accurate
enough to include at this time, says Chris Lee, marketing manager.
ALK’s latest PC Miler product, version 22, has a new feature in the
“Help” menu on the toolbar. By clicking “Check For Updates,”
the program automatically accesses ALK’s database for any software
patches and data updates that apply to the user’s unique needs, the
company says.
Prophesy Software issues updates for its mileage and routing product
about twice a year to ensure the data for digital maps and road
restrictions is accurate and current. The company offers its mileage
and routing software as part of an integrated fleet management system
that includes fuel and road taxes, driver log auditing and dispatch
software.
“Everything is based on miles and routes,” says Bill Ashburn,
Prophesy vice president. “The first product we offered was a
commercial mileage and routing system.”
Vendors also offer Web–based mileage and routing applications that are
updated with new information continuously. Many fleets prefer to use
PC–based versions to integrate mileages and routes with their dispatch
and other back–office systems.
Instant access
Keeping routing information current may not be the challenge it once
was, but carriers still have to manage multiple standards and versions
of mileage and routing software internally. For rating and billing
purposes, some shippers insist their carriers use a certain version of
shortest or practical mileages based on ZIP–to–ZIP or city–to–city
routes. As a further complication, carriers often use separate mileage
standards and software versions internally for their billing, payroll
and compliance processes.
Some new features make it easy to eliminate this complexity. Summitt
Trucking sets customers up in its enterprise software system, TMW
Suite, to whatever mileage standards and versions they choose, says
Dan McKinnon, director of information technology for the 425–truck
carrier based in Clarksville, Ind.
Summitt Trucking purchased a multiversion license from ALK
Technologies’ PC Miler; it also purchased a multiversion module from
TMW Suite that automatically calls up the correct mileages for each
customer, McKinnon says. Summit Trucking uses PC Miler version 21 as
its default mileage and routing system, but if a customer should
prefer PC Miler version 19, TMW Suite will pull in the mileage from
this version each time the fleet processes an invoice for the
customer.
Technology providers also offer software development kits and
application program interfaces (APIs) to make it simple for customers
to create custom applications. Some of Rand McNally’s customers
utilize APIs to create custom products such as “geofencing” areas
they do not want trucks to enter, or to use geofences to monitor when
trucks are entering certain areas. They also can use APIs to call up
mapping, directions and other data, Krouse says.
Another simple way to manage multiple versions of mileage software is
with XML Web services, vendors say. This mechanism for exchanging data
through the Internet can automate the flow of mileage and routing
information to whatever software program one chooses.
XML Web services allows a dispatch software program to send a request
through the Internet to a remote server to “call up” mileages or
routes on demand from the vendor. XML Web services also are an
efficient way to incorporate real–time information into routes from
various third–party providers of information services.
Live navigation
Using a Web services platform has become important for companies that
develop navigation systems for the cab. Many important changes can
happen during a trip, including fuel prices, weather and traffic
congestion.
“That’s got to be the path of the future,” McKinnon says.
“Everybody is going to go to Web services. That’s going to be the
only way to get good, live, accurate information.”
Maptuit’s FleetNav routing system has used a Web services platform
since the company began nine years ago, says Luke Wachtel, vice
president of sales and business development. “You’ll never get a
disk from Maptuit,” Wachtel says.
Maptuit uses a digital map database from Navteq and proprietary
routing algorithms to calculate optimal truck routes. To obtain routes
and directions from Maptuit’s FleetNav system, fleets set up their
dispatch software and mobile communications systems to initiate Web
service calls to Maptuit. Routes and directions are returned
automatically, on demand, to the cab.
With its Web–based platform, Maptuit is able to improve the accuracy,
efficiency and safety of its routes continuously using active, dynamic
feedback from more than 80,000 drivers, Wachtel says. One driver for a
major truckload carrier was an eyewitness to the Interstate 35 Bridge
collapse in Minneapolis. The driver immediately called his dispatcher,
who in turn contacted Maptuit. Ten minutes after the bridge collapse,
Maptuit had closed the road segment for all of its users, Wachtel
says.
Maptuit also offers a “hybrid” navigation solution called Navigo.
Through integration with a fleet’s dispatch software, Navigo
collects the origin and destination of a trip for each vehicle. All
commercial routing is calculated via an advanced algorithm on
Maptuit’s server farm and sent to onboard devices. The software
onboard the device provides turn–by–turn navigation for the driver,
Wachtel says.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services is using Navigo. “Even time spend
idling looking at a map is a cost we can now avoid with a system that
allows us to have turn–by–turn directions,” says Drew Schimelpfenig,
information systems consultant for the Lowell, Ark.–based fleet.
Through Web services, fleet customers and technology partners of ALK
Technologies — such as leading dispatch software and mobile
communications providers — have a fast, efficient method to
integrate with the PC Miler mapping, mileage and route database.
Through ALK’s PC Miler Web Services offering, onboard computers can
request routes, maps and mileage on demand.
A computer that runs ALK’s navigation system, CoPilot Truck, can
integrate optimized fuel purchase plans and routes, pickups and drops,
and real–time traffic from PC Miler routing–engine and third–party
software providers. The result is optimal, dynamic routing for mobile
assets, says Alain Kornhouser, chairman of ALK Technologies and
Princeton University professor.
U.S. Xpress is using CoPilot Truck on its onboard computers from
DriverTech. The Chattanooga, Tenn.–based company justified the cost of
using the CoPilot Truck navigation system in its trucks based on a
calculated time savings of 15 minutes per day per driver — time
drivers otherwise would spend searching for directions or, worse,
getting lost.
As it turns out, U.S. Xpress is gaining more than time savings. Routes
generated by ALK’s PC Miler engine are synchronized with the
company’s dispatch software and fuel optimization system from IDSC,
says Ken Crane, applications manager of mobile technology for U.S.
Xpress. Drivers get turn–by–turn spoken directions and fuel purchase
plans for points from pickup to delivery.
Later this year, ALK Technologies plans to release an “offboard”
version of its CoPilot Truck navigation solution. Drivers will get
routes from a server instead of from CoPilot map data on the in–cab
hardware device, making it possible to incorporate more real–time
information into navigation, says Mike Bodden, chief technology
officer.
Simplifying complexity
Until recently, the options for selecting routes were limited to the
shortest or most practical route, incorporating uniform truck
restrictions such as height and weight. As the technology for
determining routes has become more sophisticated and accurate,
fine–tuning for unique requirements now is possible. After all, the
best route between two points for one fleet may not be the best for
another.
With ProMiles’ most recent system, the Kingpin version, fleets can
classify their vehicles in much greater detail to make more accurate
routes, Lee says. For example, a 40–foot straight truck may have the
same 13–foot 6–inch height restrictions as a combination vehicle, but
a straight truck can travel on roadways where combinations are not
allowed. Routing packages that consider only general commercial truck
restrictions do not make this distinction, and as a result do not
produce the shortest possible route, Lee says.
In addition, several states have weight–limit restrictions at 73,000
pounds. Routing systems that do not deal with precise truck weights do
not consider that many trucks are carrying below 70,000 pounds, loaded
or unloaded. ProMiles Kingpin edition takes size and weight into
consideration rather than using a single classification for commercial
vehicles, Lee says.
“There are a lot of routes where, if you are empty, you meet the
weight–limit criteria for those roads,” he says.
And rather than looking for the shortest or most practical route given
commercial truck restrictions, software developers have developed
algorithms that evaluate the total cost of navigation. The least–cost
route is not always the shortest route or the route that avoids toll
roads.
For example, consider two routes that are the same distance. Assuming
fuel prices are the same along each route, one route may have 20
turns, 12 of which are right–hand turns; the other route may have
seven total turns with two right–hand turns. Taking safety into
consideration, the second route actually costs less. And even if the
second route has toll costs or more expensive fuel, it still may be
the least–cost route.
Maptuit set up its service to allow customers to customize the
sensitivity of the routing algorithm to favor certain factors such as
safety or on–time percentage, Wachtel says. Navigation algorithms
typically use a “binary” method to determine routing – that is,
they use a procedure to eliminate route options by treating each
option as a constant instead of a variable. For example, a binary
method would select toll roads versus no toll roads, shortest route
versus practical route, or interstates versus secondary roads.
Maptuit has developed a multivariate cost–based algorithm that can
factor in many nuances in routing decisions, Wachtel says. “The
second you have an algorithm that has variables instead of constants,
you have exponentially increased the amount of work you have to do,”
he says. “If a business is trying to save money, you have to get
very sophisticated. No one solution works for this market. Even in
just longhaul, different fleets have very different needs.”
ALK is gathering GPS data from customers to use as speed information.
If a certain road is classified as a secondary road in the PC Miler
database, and if customer data shows a lot of volume on the road, this
feedback will raise the class value of the road in PC Miler. Routes
will include the road more often, Bodden says.
Starting with PC Miler version 19, ALK has included historical travel
times for major roads. Fleets can choose routes based on “optimized
ETA,” or the fastest route between two points, which may produce a
route that is different from practical, Bodden says.
There may be many paths to a particular destination, and it hasn’t
always been easy to find the least expensive one. But with today’s
real–time information, in–cab computing power and sophisticated
formulas for calculating routes, there really is no excuse for
mistakes.
DOWN TO THE LAST MILE
Enterprise–wide software developers bring mileage to life
Companies that provide transportation management systems (TMS)
routinely develop and integrate with new information technologies in
the transportation industry. To maximize the value of the information
in today’s mapping, mileage and routing applications, these
companies have developed some powerful tools of their own.
When using these systems to pre–plan dispatch, load planners have
instant access to integrated mileage. This helps planners determine
the number of miles associated with a load and to categorize these
miles as loaded or empty miles without additional data lookup,
manipulation or entry, says Jennifer McQuiston, director of marketing
for Innovative Computing Corp.
When integrating mobile communications with mileage through the
Innovative Enterprise System (IES), fleet operators can see the
remaining miles out on a load, as well as real–time ETA based on the
last location, McQuiston says.
Many of McLeod Software’s customers are using the GPS Fuel Tax
module in the LoadMaster Enterprise System to zero in on out–of–route
(OOR) mileage, says Robert Brothers, manager of product development.
The module uses the GPS positions from mobile communications and
standard route mileages to determine OOR mileages for each movement.
Fleets also are using McLeod’s ETA/Out of Route module to identify
trucks that are OOR or behind schedule in real time, Brothers says. In
addition, more fleets are incorporating ETA data into mapping
applications to display trucks in different colors and get a “global
view of the fleet in a visual way,” he says. The latest release of
LoadMaster incorporates a Google Earth application to plot vehicle
positions on satellite images, Brothers says.
TMW Systems’ TripAlert product, which is available to TMW customers
and other TMS systems, continuously recalculates the ETA of every
point on dispatch, says Dave Wangler, chief executive officer. In
calculating ETAs, the software uses modeling techniques and real–time
information to project scheduled breaks for drivers’ hours of
service.
TripAlert also understands the difference between off route and out of
route, Wangler says. Just because a driver is off route, for instance,
does not mean he will incur extra miles or be late for a delivery.
“We extrapolate the remainder of the trip to determine if the driver
will incur any extra miles,” he says. As soon as a position report
comes in through mobile communications, the system triggers an alert
if the vehicle is behind schedule or out of route. The system provides
reports on authorized miles versus the miles the driver actually
drove.
Using reporting tools such as Results Now and the Dawg from TMW,
fleets can set up instant alerts when allowable thresholds for
out–of–route miles are exceeded. They also can include OOR miles with
other information such as idle time, fuel consumption and revenue into
driver scorecards, Wangler says.
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