Best tool to plan routes in the city. Using GPS DVRs navigating in the absence of DVR services. Recording trips, journeys, courses in the city. Using GPS is a good way to navigate in the absence of other means of orientation. The information from other road users, other drivers helps to navigate from one point to another point. In this article we consider the best tools that help you plan the route in any city or region, where there is poor or no navigation signal from GPS receiver.
In this review, we shall be focusing on the best route planning software. We recommend that you try each one out.
Badger Maps
Price: $49/month Business, $95/month Enterprise (Free 7-day trial)
Best for: Outside salespeople and sales teams
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Badger Maps is a route planning app designed specifically for field salespeople. It allows sales reps to automatically plan, route, and maximize their time in the field by cutting down driving time by 20%. It’s the all-in-one tool for outside sales.
With innovative features such as lead generation, customer data visualization, and Check-ins, Badger frees up 8 hours of administrative work each week. These time savings can be used to meet more prospects and close 22% more deals.
Advanced reporting allows you to keep track of your sales activity and re-assign territories, while keeping closely connected with important accounts. It also integrates with most CRMs, making customer data accessible from the field at all times.
If you’re a field salesperson looking to make the most of every day on the road or trying to replace old software like MS Streets and Trips, the best route optimizer is Badger Maps. Sign up for a free trial today and take your outside sales performance to the next level!
Google Maps
Price: Free
Best for: Small businesses. Simple routes
Google Maps is a web mapping software developed by Google. Available both on the web and mobile devices, Google Maps is best for simple routing and getting users from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time.
With Google Maps you can create routes for travel by foot, car, bike, or public transport. Users can add up to 9 destinations to their route and receive live traffic updates while on the road.
Google Maps is free, simple to use, and has some of the most reliable turn-by-turn directions available.
Learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of using the Google route planner and the best alternatives for salespeople.
C2Logix
Price: Varies
Best for: Big and small businesses. Municipal, fleets.
With their two route mapping softwares, C2RouteApp and FleetRoute, C2Logix is a leading web-based route optimization solution for a variety of industries including green waste, recycling, snow plowing, street sweeping, and meter reading.
With easy-to-use interfaces, C2Logix allows users to see different optimized routes and choose the best option for their purposes. This can be helpful when routing trucks and planning out overnight trips for fleets.
They also provide a wide array of reporting functions and options, including time management, customer service aides, and cost-vs-revenue analysis.
C2Logix has even joined forces with TomTom for integrated job dispatch, vehicle tracking, and advanced reporting. While traffic is not taken into account, it’s a great way to oversee a fleet and ensure they get where they’re going taking the most time-efficient and cost-effective route.
LogiNext
Price: Starts at $20/month
Best for: Big and small businesses. Delivery routes and dispatch.
LogiNext is a great delivery and dispatch route planning and optimizer software for professionals. Its flagship products include the cloud-based Last Mile Delivery and Route Optimization software, as well as its Field Service and Field Workforce Optimization software. It’s a dynamic company with a lot of great routing optimization software options for those who travel on the job.
Featuring a clean and user-friendly interface, all field services such as shipments, carriers and on-field workforces can be tracked and optimized in real-time upon a detailed map.
Plan and manage dispatch schedules and delivery routes while saving money on travel expenses across the board. With LogiNext’s real-time field workforce management, you’ll never have to worry about your team’s performance in their territories.
Utilizing logistics analytics to help managers anticipate and adapt for all kinds of conditions, LogiNext will ensure that your fleet performs at the highest level.
My Route Online
Price: Starts at $29.95
Best for: Small businesses. Logistics, trucking.
MyRoute is one of the most popular tools in professional transportation, with over 5 million routes planned. Designed for truck drivers and delivery people who need mapping software to plug in multiple stops, MyRoute assists with the logistics of selling and delivering on the road.
Map up to 350 stops per route, optimizing routes either by distance or by time. Once a list of addresses is exported to your GPS system or mobile device of choice, you no longer need to worry about juggling multiple stops. MyRoute organizes everything in minutes.
MyRoute is an affordable and dependable resource for truck drivers and delivery people to ensure that they spend less time behind the wheel.
Reliable and simple to use, MyRoute is a great option for truck drivers seeking a simple all-in-one solution for their mapping software needs.
RouteSavvy
Price: $300/year for up to 3 users, $100/user/year for additional users (Free 14-day trial)
Best for: Small to mid-sized fleets.
For managers of small to mid-sized delivery, service, or sales fleets, RouteSavvy is an invaluable tool for streamlining and maximizing your team’s activity.
RouteSavvy is a web-based service that allows users to input several locations and generate an optimal route between them, saving time and money while boosting productivity.
Built on Bing Maps, RouteSavvy makes planning and coordinating routes easy, allowing managers to plan for their entire fleet. With a starting cost of $300/annually, this handy app is focused on helping service companies plan and execute the work of their field services.
An easy-to-use interface makes for a simple learning curve, meaning your fleet will be on the road benefiting from RouteSavvy’s time-saving features in no time.
Integrate RouteSavvy with your team’s mobile devices for efficient turn-by-turn navigation, and make the most of their day.
Mapstr
Price: Free
Best for: Travelers and tourists.
If you’re looking for a more fun and personalized mapping experience, Mapstr is the perfect app for travelers who want to keep track of their favorite destinations all over the globe.
Featuring a clean and colorful interface, Mapstr allows users to tag their top places they’ve visited around the world, making it easy to find on a map. Like a fun version of vacation scrapbooking, Mapstr is an engaging way to keep track of your favorite vacation destinations and the memories attached to them.
Mapstr is fully integrated with Apple products (even the Apple Watch), so you can take it with you anywhere you go and add new places to your map. You can even share your favorite places with friends.
Download Mapstr for free today and keep a collection of your favorite vacation spots!
MobileIQ
Price: Starts at $97/month
Best for: Small Businesses. Delivery, fleet management.
MobileIQ has been a leading company in the route planning industry for a while now, and its Headlight Route Planner is tailored specifically for delivery companies and small businesses in need of fleet management.
Import orders, deliveries, and service calls from Excel, and create optimized routes with just a few clicks. It gives managers the power to create and manage a variety of routes, including those of independent sales reps, or service and delivery.
Featuring Quick Start videos designed to make onboarding easy, Headlight is an affordable route planner for professionals that doesn’t have a strong learning curve. Your delivery company will have no problem integrating it into your process and benefiting from its optimization features.
If you’re looking for an easy way to make the most of your delivery team or fleet’s daily operations, consider MobileIQ’s Headlight.
Automile
Price: Devices start at $;99
Best for: Big and small businesses. GPS tracking and fleet management.
If real-time tracking of assets as well as sales reps is something that could benefit your business, Automile is one of the top options on the market. Using GPS tracking devices, Automile makes it possible to monitor multiple vehicles in the field, with an accompanying app that makes scheduling and dispatching a simple and interactive experience.
A variety of GPS tracking devices can be utilized to have a picture-perfect view of your team’s activities on the road via a live-action map. Automatic reports can be sent to your device, including speeding, disconnect, and motion-activated alerts. Your team will stay productive while remaining safe.
Automile’s advanced routing and fleet activity management features make managing the team a completely interactive experience. You’ll never lose sight of the big picture.
One of the most trusted GPS device companies in the fleet management industry, Automile ensures that no detail falls through the cracks.
GeoConcept
Price: Varies
Best for: Small and medium-sized businesses. Transport and logistics.
GeoConcept’s route planning app TourSolver makes travel optimization easy. It is specifically designed for professional transportation, improving service quality, cost, timeliness and responsiveness.
GeoConcept helps with the logistical side of route management, resulting in better work conditions for its users as well as better customer service for their customers.
Its routing optimization features are great for small to medium-sized businesses looking to save time on the road that can be better utilized connecting with customers.
It also results in an environmentally responsible approach, doing much to reduce mileage, lower CO2 emissions, and limit fuel consumption. This means not only a healthier planet but significant savings on travel costs.
Create the best routes for yourself and your team. Check out Geoconcept and learn how they can save you time and money on the road.
Circuit
Circuit began as route optimization software for anyone who needed to plan a route with multiple stops. But since most of our customers were professional delivery drivers, we focused exclusively on building an efficient, intuitive experience for delivery teams. Now, no matter if your delivery fleet is made up of one vehicle or a dozen, Circuit helps improve efficiencies in your delivery operations.
Circuit lets you create optimal routes, monitor routes, update customers with delivery times, collect proof of delivery, and set up specific constraints to customize your route to your business needs.
Route Optimization
When you plan routes with Circuit, you can either use our auto-complete address feature to input stops into the Circuit app, or upload large routes via a CSV or Excel file. Either way, our route optimization feature works the same way.
Circuit simulates thousands of different route combinations until it finds the best route. This is done in a few minutes, significantly reducing the time it takes delivery services to plan a daily route. Route optimization is a significant time-saver that can’t be done with free navigation services like Google Maps or Waze. Instead, you’d use Circuit to optimize the route and then use your preferred navigation system to drive the route.
Circuit’s default is to create a full-loop route (though this can be changed) where you end up back where you started. We’ve noticed that most of our customers are delivering out of warehouses or their businesses, so a full-loop route makes the most sense.
But this means you can get routes that look a little like this:
The route starts at Ramsey Forty Foot and passes Stop Two on the way to Stop One. You might think this an awkward oversight, after all, you’re so close to the second stop. But Circuit’s optimization algorithm did the math and knows it’s faster, all other things being equal, to complete the second stop on the return journey.
Of course, drivers use Circuit for more than two-stop routes, and there are several other factors to consider when planning routes, such as required delivery time (some stops need their package by a specific time) and vehicle capacity (when operating at maximum capacity, some drivers will need to head back to the warehouse to reload their vehicle).
Concerning the number of stops you can have on a route: If you’re subscribed to Circuit through your Android or iOS, you can optimize an unlimited number of addresses every month and add up to 500 stops in a single route.
If you need more than 500 stops to a route, we offer that in our team plans.
Route Monitoring
Circuit’s route monitoring features are designed to tell you where a driver is within the context of their route. This is an improvement upon traditional GPS tracking updates that simply tell you the driver’s geographic location. Knowing a driver is at 4th and Madison isn’t helpful if you don’t know they had to re-optimize their route to avoid an accident and that what was once their fourth stop is now their third.
This way, if a customer reaches out to dispatch about their delivery, dispatch doesn’t have to collect their information, reach out to the driver, get the status update, and then call the customer back.
All dispatch has to do is look on their screen, zoom in on the driver for updated details on where they are currently and where they’re headed next, and inform the customer on their package’s estimated time of arrival (ETA).
Customer Updates
Speaking of keeping customers in the know, Circuit can also send delivery updates directly to the customer. Customer updates provide peace of mind while reducing labor on your end, as dispatch won’t be fielding as many calls from customers inquiring about their package’s ETA. They also reduce the risk of failed deliveries, which result in second delivery attempts and have a negative impact on the route’s overall efficiency.
Once a driver starts their route, recipients get a text or email (you specify which in the backend) of their ETA.
![Text notification: "Your package is out for delivery and is expected to arrive between 08:30 and 10:30. Track your package [link]"](https://obiztools.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/feature-msgs-500x421.jpg)
The message comes with a link that allows the customer to check on the status of their package throughout the day. So, say your customer gets a text at the start of the day saying their delivery is expected to arrive between 08:30 and 10:30. If there are complications, and your driver is a little behind on their route, when the customer checks the provided link, they’ll see their ETA has been moved back to occur between 9:00 and 11:00.
Plus, when the customer clicks the provided link and goes to the tracking web page, they can add notes that go directly to the driver, such as additional delivery instructions.
As the driver gets closer to making the delivery, the customer gets a final text with an exact delivery time.
Finally, once the package is delivered, the web tracking page is updated to reflect that.
Proof of Delivery
Depending on where and what you’re delivering, the need for proof of delivery (POD) will vary.
With Circuit, drivers can:
- Collect a customer’s signature, verifying the parcel was received by the customer or another recipient (such as a concierge)
- Mark that they left the package in a mailbox
- Mark that they left the package in a safe place (and take a photo for additional verification).
Dispatch can easily view the information after the driver updates their stop:
This gives dispatch access to any relevant notes if a customer calls to inquire about the status of a package.
Conclusion
What is the best route planning software? The question depends on what you are looking for in a system. It can be difficult to decide which route planning software is right for your application or business. To choose, you likely will need to consider ease of use, learning curve, features, price and customer reviews.