Routeplanner for multiple addresses

[RouteXL]

Hello all, I hope this is the right place...

I have made an routeplanner for multiple destinations, that sorts waypoints in the fastest order, minimizing the total travel time.

http://www.routexl.com



You can add locations by the search bar, clicking the map or copy+paste via de Import button. Once the route has been found, you can print, share or download it. It's free for routes up till 20 addresses.

One of the download options is ITN for Tomtom. I have tested it on my navigation system (one) and it worked fine, but there are many systems and I can't check them all. Your help is very much appreciated to test the download on your navigation system.

Thanks in advance!

 

[dhn]

Welcome to TTF. You are of course allowed to post 3rd party apps in this forum but am curious as to why you would bother 'reinventing the wheel' so to speak. Surely you have heard of TYRE, which does all the same (and more) as your description provides.

http://www.janboersma.nl/gett/index.php

 

[RouteXL]

RouteXL optimizes routes by sorting destinations in the optimal sequence. It alters the order to minimize total travel time. It's the travelling salesman problem: find the shortest possible tour.

Next to that, it's a website, an online service, so there is no install needed. It runs on every platform with a good internet browser. You can even run it on a chromebook, ipad or smartphone. You can share routes via social networks, Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.

Also, it's close to ready to be linked to third party online software, e.g. CRM of ERP software. You can already copy+paste adresses from Excel and optimize the route to them. Next step is to add a button to any app in the cloud.

But the main reason for me to build it, is that it was asked for by my clients.

 

[alfie67]

RouteXL optimizes routes. . .

RouteXL - been trying out your beta program and will compare it to TSP Solver for Google Maps program which seems to be very similar to yours. No nag screens. "If more than 15 locations are specified, you are not guaranteed to get the optimal solution, but the solution is likely to be close to the best possible." It will take 100 waypoints - free. I notice the author has recently updated; I haven't had opportunity to see if it now works as well as before.

Hope you have much success with yours!

 

[Andy_P]

I've had a quick look and it seems to work well.

But would you be interested in a few bits of feedback?

1. The Google map is all grey (reminds me of a TomTom on the "Traffic" colour scheme which I hate!) Any reason why it couldn't be in the usual Google colours?

2. I keep getting a pop-up box saying:

WARNING:
Some parts of this website seem to be invisible.
This can prevent the website working correctly.
Maybe you're running an adblocker?

Well yes I am, and I would prefer to be told WHAT is invisible before I disable the AdBlocker, but even when I did, I'm still getting the pop-up every few minutes. The blocker is the AdBlock Plus Firefox extension.

3. That same AdBlocker pop-up message even steals the focus back from the Firefox tab I'm working in (eg while I'm writing this on TT Forums in one browser tab, it has already returned me to your site in another tab twice with that pop-up message appearing.

4. I routinely use a double-click to zoom in on Google maps, but when I do that on your map, it always brings up another pop-up window saying:

You need to zoom in to add locations by clicking.

But then it often DOES add a location, in a place I didn't want. That needs sorting.

5. I'm also getting a pop-up about a video a couple of times? I didn't get the exact text of that, because by now all these pop-up boxes were driving me mad and I shut this one down straight away.

6. I just clicked to add a location in SE England and the map suddenly shot off to Germany and put the location tag there instead.

7. I also just got this error:

Something went wrong, our apologies!

[Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80040111 (NS_ERROR_NOT_AVAILABLE) [nsIXMLHttpRequest.getAllResponseHeaders]" nsresult: "0x80040111 (NS_ERROR_NOT_AVAILABLE)" location: "JS frame :: https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js :: anonymous :: line 4" data: no] // status: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80040111 (NS_ERROR_NOT_AVAILABLE) [nsIXMLHttpRequest.getAllResponseHeaders]" nsresult: "0x80040111 (NS_ERROR_NOT_AVAILABLE)" location: "JS frame :: https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js :: anonymous :: line 4" data: no] // response: undefined // loc: http://www.routexl.com // url: response.php?function=add&i=0&q=47-55+Ditton+Hill+Rd%2C+Surrey+KT6%2C+UK&lat=51.382258&lng=-0.315687&o=&_=1326136863794 // app: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.2.25) Gecko/20111212 Firefox/3.6.25 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

I closed the box and everything still seems to be working.

P.S. I'll edit your URL link in the first post for you.

 

[RouteXL]

@Andy_P: Thanks for the feedback and the URL link! Some answers:

1. It's a styled map to emphasize the route and simplify the UI. On the top right of the map you can select the default or satellite map yourself.

2+3. There were user errors in the past related to the use of Adblocker. It has cost me a lot of time and sweat to figure that out. I will disable it for now but until those errors come back again.

4. From the API: "This event is fired when the user double-clicks on the map. Note that the click event will also fire, right before this one.". Can't help this I gues...

5. The hints show if after 60 seconds to locations were added. It's ment to help as one user requested, but I will extend that period to 2 min.

6. Can't check it without more info. What was the address you entered?

7. That's a connection problem, can happen every now and then. But I will make the message more friendly.

@alfie67: RouteXL is definitely not the only routeplanner for multiple destinations out there on the web.
But it's targeting to be the best so let me know what we can improve to become your favorite ;-)

 

[alfie67]

Hopefully others will jump in here too with problems / suggestions for improvement as Andy has already done. Finding a unique nitch will be a challenge.

We appreciate your work toward achieving that goal. Good luck!

 

[Andy_P]

@Andy_P: Thanks for the feedback and the URL link! Some answers:

1. It's a styled map to emphasize the route and simplify the UI. On the top right of the map you can select the default or satellite map yourself.

Some glitch at my end it seems... Tried it again today and the map colours are what I'd expect to see.

6. Can't check it without more info. What was the address you entered?

No idea I'm afraid. I hadn't entered an addres, but was clicking (and double clicking!) around at random just to get a feel for it.

Thanks for the other answers. Keep us posted!

 

[RouteXL]

4. I routinely use a double-click to zoom in on Google maps, but when I do that on your map, it always brings up another pop-up window saying:

You need to zoom in to add locations by clicking.

But then it often DOES add a location, in a place I didn't want. That needs sorting.

Thanks for the other answers. Keep us posted!

It's been a while, but I think we've solved the double-click-to-zoom issue. It has been bugging me on the @todo list for two years, but finally there is a magic solution

Before firing the single-click-to-add action, the app now waits a little (200 ms) for another click. If that second click comes in, it zooms. If not, it adds a new destination to the map.

 

[alfie67]

Good improvement. Thanks!

 

[Andy_P]

Wow! Impressive you remembered this topic from almost exactly a year ago. Thanks for the update!

 

[Alex.F]

Hello RouteXL.
The sequence of steps maybe different depending on time of the day, weekday, holiday etc.due to traffic, additionally, for trip planning, it would be really nice to set a departure time & get an ETA for each stop as well as reverse; when do I need to leave to be at the end at a certain time & that of course implies an ability to add stop's durations.
Another problem I have to solve frequently when visiting open houses is due to the fact that some are open 1 to 3 PM, some 1 to 4 PM, some 2 to 4 PM etc.
I know it's quite a laundry list, but you did ask for features that could be unique.
THX

 

[RouteXL]

Hello RouteXL.
The sequence of steps maybe different depending on time of the day, weekday, holiday etc.due to traffic, additionally, for trip planning, it would be really nice to set a departure time & get an ETA for each stop as well as reverse; when do I need to leave to be at the end at a certain time & that of course implies an ability to add stop's durations.
Another problem I have to solve frequently when visiting open houses is due to the fact that some are open 1 to 3 PM, some 1 to 4 PM, some 2 to 4 PM etc.
I know it's quite a laundry list, but you did ask for features that could be unique.
THX

Here I am again. We did not forget one of our favorite topics on the web. We had an update a little while ago and I thought you might be interested

You can now set your departure time, and the time slot and service time duration for each of your destinations. The route planner will try to find a route within those ready and due time restrictions. The ETA is given for each stop.

The reverse (when to leave) has not been implemented unfortunately. But pickup and delivery points have. That is, you can indicate which of your destinations has to be visited before or after the other.

 

[Master.of.Mischief]

I use this website at work to route up our drivers runs. It has saved a lot of arguments!
Only one annoyance (though is probably not an issue with anyone else) is when it tells me my address isn't very accurate. I do only type in the post code after all and that is good enough to see. Any way of turning that off at my end or should I import the post codes using your import function.

 

[RouteXL]

That check was added too indeed. Other users wanted to see a warning when the location on the map did not match the address exactly. Otherwise we would have sent them to the wrong place. You can turn the annoying warning off in the options on the top right. Remove the mark at "Check address precise".

 

[Master.of.Mischief]

That check was added too indeed. Other users wanted to see a warning when the location on the map did not match the address exactly. Otherwise we would have sent them to the wrong place. You can turn the annoying warning off in the options on the top right. Remove the mark at "Check address precise".

Thank you for your prompt reply

 

[RouteXL]

Keep us posted!

An update that might be of interest for you. We have connected our routing optimisation to TomTom Telematics WEBFLEET. Easy import/export of order locations from its fleet management platform:

https://www.routexl.nl/blog/routing-for-tomtom-webfleet/