The fast track to success

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

For many people choosing the best road from A to B can be hard enough, but transport or logistical managers often face far more challenging routing problems.

Finding the quickest and most cost-effective path for a delivery truck becomes a complicated exercise when several drop-off points must be considered.

This is the kind of problem that Ellerslie-based map publisher Wises/UBD will be addressing with the start next month of what it believes is the first off-the-shelf route optimisation package to cover all of New Zealand.

Route-planning software is commonplace in the United States and Europe, but the high cost of mapping data and a relatively small market have prevented affordable packages being available for New Zealand, says general manager Eamonn Bicknell.

"Up to now the few companies who have attempted to build their own logistical solution here have paid in the hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said.

Wises has beaten this problem by adapting some Australian-developed route optimisation software and tacking it on to its E-Map digital maps.

Production manager Mal Jack says pricing has not been decided but he expects the route optimisation features will be offered for around $2000 as an optional upgrade to E-Map, which costs $695.

Bicknell demonstrated the route-planning feature by entering a haphazard journey from Abbatoir Lane in Auckland to Abbatoir Rd in Taihape, taking in addresses in Wanganui, Gisborne, Wellington, Whangarei, Lower Hutt and Palmerston North.

Each waypoint was selected from E-Map's gazetteer, a database containing the name and geographical co-ordinates of every street in New Zealand, but they may be selected by clicking on any point on the on-screen map.

When E-Map plotted the journey with each waypoint numbered in the order it was entered the route appeared as a purple line snaking over the North Island, with a total distance of 2803km.

But clicking the "optimise" button reorganised the route to take in each waypoint in a logical order, reducing the distance to 1284km.

Bicknell said route data could be exported to Excel spreadsheets for further analysis.

The program also included options to use all roads or non-restricted roads and specify the quickest route or the shortest distance.

"For example, from Ellerslie into town the shortest route might be the Great South Rd, but the quickest would be the Southern Motorway," he said.

"but I agree that is often debatable."

Wises