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Smarter routing and scheduling, more graphical network planning and more precise journey time calculations are among highlights of the Kingswood MapMechanics display (stand no C90) at the Softworld Supply Chain 2003 exhibition, which runs at the National Exhibition Centre from 26 to 27 March.
Visitors to the stand can also see the results of a project to link TruckStops, the leading routing and scheduling system, with FreightDesk, the freight management system from Traderman Systems. Kingswood MapMechanics supplies and supports TruckStops in Britain. |
“In effect, TruckStops has given FreightDesk an embedded routing and scheduling capability, says Mary Short, Kingswood MapMechanics’ managing director. “This shows just how easy it has become to integrate TruckStops with other applications which brings significant benefits to operational users.”
The Softworld event will provide the first public opportunity to see the latest version 2.8 of TruckStops. Among advances, this has an enhanced user interface with customisable toolbars, which give users freedom to access regularly-used functions with a single mouse click.
Version 2.8 also introduces improved data linkage, allowing TruckStops to use external databases such as those used by sales order processing systems. The result: more seamless integration with corporate systems.
The new version also consolidates various recent developments in TruckStops. In particular, TruckStops can now base its calculations on any digitised road network maps as well as on its own well-established time and distance method; or it can combine both methods in whatever way best suits each application.
The latest version of OptiSite, the network planning and optimisation tool, has also new features. The graphical aspects in particular have been enhanced, so that users can now easily make changes in their base parameters and see the impact in graphical form. For instance, having determined the optimum location for a depot network, users can move a depot and immediately see a display showing the cost implications.
OptiSite, like TruckStops, is developed in the US by MicroAnalytics and supplied in Britain by Kingswood MapMechanics. As well as being available for sale, it is often also used by the company in one-off consultancy projects.
For more detailed isochrone calculation tasks, users are more likely to choose the GeoConcept geographic information system, which is also supplied in Britain by Kingswood MapMechanics. Here there have been significant advances in the latest version, which produces results much more in line with real-world experience. GeoConcept and TruckStops both use the same routing technology.
“When working out how far you can travel from a given point in a given time, most isochrone calculation systems treat each road segment as a single entity that is either included or excluded in the result,” explains Mary Short. “This means the distance reachable along a given road is often over- or under-stated.
“GeoConcept by contrast now shows the correct distance travelled along every road, converting the proportion of the final reachable road segment into a meaningful mileage figure.”
Users of digital map data from Kingswood MapMechanics can now benefit from even more accurate isochrones, as well as generally better performance in map-based scheduling and transport planning applications. Two new map datasets reflecting real-world travel times are now available from the company. The AA’s strategic-level routing database is the same one used by the AA itself in the online routing service available at TheAA.com.
Even more detailed is a dataset based on NavTech street-level map data, which can use road speeds calculated from ITIS historical data on thousands of real-life journeys. Road speeds on each individual road link can vary according to whether the journey is at rush hour, in the middle of the day or at night. |
