This quick start guide will provide the basic information to start using ElasticRoute.
- There are 3 basic settings required:
- Setting Up Of Location And Timezone Of Your Plan Area
- Adding Depot
- Adding Vehicle
After the basic settings, you may proceed with the addition of stops for Planning And Routing.
Setting Up Of Location And Timezone Of Your Plan Area
To begin route planning, you are required to set the location and timezone of your business operation or plan area. Timezone setting is needed for the system to generate various estimated time of arrivals (ETA) for your planned routes.
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- Navigate to Settings > General.
- Enter your Country and Timezone into the fields.
- Click Save.
*The rest of the settings may be omitted.
For more information, refer to General Settings.
Adding Depot
Depot can serve as starting and ending points for your delivery or collection jobs. You may also use it to define your warehouse.
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- Navigate to Settings > Depots.
- Click the Add Depot button.
- Key in the Name and Address for your depot. You may click-and-drag the map marker to pin-point the location.
- Click Save.
For more information, refer to How To Add Depot / Warehouses.
Adding Vehicle
To add vehicle for planning and routing, follow the steps below.
- Navigate to Settings > Vehicle.
- Click the Add Vehicle button.
- Key in the Name for your vehicle.
The rest of the information may be omitted.
For more information, refer to How To Add Vehicles.
- Click Save
Planning And Routing
After the addition of the depot and vehicle, you may start entering the stops for planning. There are 2 main ways to create the stops:
Manual Addition Of Stops
To manually add the stops of your deliveries, perform the following steps:
- Click on Calendar.
- Select the date of your choice.
- Click Add Stop.
- Enter Date, Name, and Address. The rest of the information can be omitted.
*Locate the address with map marker if needed by clicking Search or dragging the Map marker.- Refer to the following links for more information:
- How To Assign Stops With Special Requirements To Specific Vehicle Type
- How To Add Depots / Warehouses
- How To Set Time Windows
- How To Set Vehicle Capacity
- Click Save to return to the summary page.
Repeat Steps 3 to 5 to create two more stops. - Click on Plan & Optimize.
Once the planning is completed, the rows will turn pale green, with the relevant information such as Run, Sequence (Seq) and ETA being generated.
- To export the data out, you may click on the Export button, and select Export to CSV.
Note:- If you wish to customize the headers of your CSV export, please refer to How To Export Planned Stops To CSV.
- To view the locations of the stops on the map, click on Map > Select a run number.
The optimized route would be shown in the map below.
Importing Of CSV To Create Stops
If you happen to have a CSV for upload, you may choose to upload it for the creation of Stops.
- Click to download CSV Template For Creating Stops
- Full Address CSV Template
- Line Address CSV Template
- Prepare a CSV manifest of your stops.
List Of Stops Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 City State Postal Code Country Latitude Longitude Weight Load Volume Load Seating Load Service Time Depot Group Suntec City 3 Temasek Blvd Singapore Singapore 038983 Singapore 1.2946918 103.859158 Singapore Expo 1 Expo Dr Singapore Singapore 486150 Singapore 1.3352329 103.959893 Junction 8 9 Bishan Pl Singapore Singapore 579837 Singapore 1.35059015 103.848745 Notes:
- Required fields: Name and Address
- The Name is a unique identifier that can be used to represent your D.O. No.
- If possible, kindly provide the Latitude and Longitude of your stops.
- If the Latitude and Longitude are not provided, the software will attempt to geocode and locate the input address.
- If you wish to rename the headers of your CSV for importing, refer to How To Import CSV File To Create Stops For Planning.
- Click on Import > Import from CSV.
- Upon uploading the CSV, wait for the address wordings to turn blue as shown below, indicating that the addresses had been geo-coded (i.e. converted to a pair of GPS coordinates, latitude and longitude).
If the wordings remain in red after a long period of time, kindly click on the Edit icon to the right-hand side to manually locate the address. - Click on Plan & Optimize.
Once the planning is completed, the rows will turn pale green, with the relevant information such as Run, Seq and ETA being generated.
- Notes:
- The Run will correspond to the ordered sequence grouping of stops planned for the driver to form a route.
- The Seq refers to the Sequence / Order of the stop in the run. Your driver may follow this sequence number to perform the optimized delivery.
- To export the data out, you may click on the Export button.
Notes:
- If you wish to customize the headers of your CSV export, please refer to How To Export Planned Stops To CSV.
- To view the locations of the stops on the map, click on Map > Select Run.
The optimized route would be shown in the map below.
This is the end of the Quick Start Guide.
To learn more about the other features of ElasticRoute, kindly visit the Tutorials page.