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A new digital mapping tool, MM Territories, has been launched by Kingswood MapMechanics to help door-to-door delivery businesses build common-sense walkable delivery rounds quickly and automatically. Unlike previous “broad-brush” systems, which may work with fairly large territories, this one aims to ensure that quite small delivery rounds actually work in the real world, taking proper account of the local environment and on-the-ground location of individual addresses.
Most mapping systems include an interactive “redistricting” or territory management tool which is ideal for managing a limited number of depot or sales areas. But for leaflet, |
newspaper or addressed mail applications, which may require hundreds or thousands of small walkable rounds, these systems are too time-consuming to be cost-effective. Other specialist fully automated optimisers quickly generate lots of areas of a given size, but fail to take account of common-sense rules such as “don’t make a newspaper boy cross a busy road” or “make the territory easy to describe so two leaflet delivery agents will not accidentally cross into each other’s areas.”
Kingswood MapMechanics’ MM Territories is specially designed to provide the best of both worlds. It has sufficient automation to speed the process up and ensure consistent sequential naming of territories, yet retains enough user interaction to ensure rounds are sensible and work efficiently in the field.
Many door-to-door organisations receive orders by store catchment, postcode sector or other large-area definition, yet their deliveries are made using smaller units. MM Territories includes a set-up dialogue where the user can specify the containing unit; the system will then ensure that all delivery territories nest perfectly into these units.
The size of the territory you need to create may vary according to the nature of the local area, so the system also enables the user to specify the building blocks. Perhaps you need to create small areas of only a few hundred households, in which case Ordnance Survey Code-Point unit postcode polygons could be used as a building block. Or for larger territories, postcode sectors with about 250 households in each sector may be more suitable.
Although the ideal territory size may vary, the user can enter an average value for each area. Perhaps the scenario calls for an average of 250 households in each territory, or maybe £10,000 of business. On the basis of these criteria the system will suggest the starting points for territory creation, and the easy-to-use map interface then allows fine-tuning of the boundaries. Running totals update continuously as the user makes alterations, so the total number of delivery points, sales or prospects in each territory can be monitored as changes are made.
The MM Territories module can use a wide range of raster and vector, street or road level mapping. MM Territories runs within the GeoConcept mapping system, and is therefore also available with GeoConcept’s smart labelling functionality, which ensures that each territory name appears neatly and does not overlap neighbouring territory names or container names such as the postcode sector labels.
Output is highly configurable. Users can and often do choose to shade areas not included within the territory of interest, so this is now a standard option. If the area of interest remains unshaded it stands out on the page, while ensuring that the street names and boundaries are clearly visible. Arrows can also be added to show the route to be walked with the direction of travel.
A Batch Print module is available, allowing automatic printing of output such as all the rounds within a particular delivery district or store catchment. Batch Print automatically changes the legend to identify the territory name, and territory-specific instructions can appear automatically on each page. It also identifies the “shape” of the territory to determine whether to use landscape or portrait paper.
Kingswood MapMechanics specialises in making the most of map-based technologies, and is the UK distributor for GeoConcept geographic information systems and TruckStops vehicle routing and scheduling systems. Kingswood MapMechanics distributes a wide range of data products including AA, NAVTEQ, Andes and Ordnance Survey digital mapping, as well as leading business and demographic datasets from many sources throughout the world. This data is listed in the MapMechanics Data Catalogue, which is probably the most extensive and up-to-date printed listing of its kind in Britain. It is published twice yearly, and is also available on the Internet. Backing up its extensive product range, Kingswood MapMechanics offers a comprehensive service of implementation support and training. |
