Build and optimize a route

Build a route to put a run's stops in the fastest order, choose where it starts and ends, and optimize a whole day for your drivers.

Building a route puts your stops in the fastest order and draws the route on the map. Build it once the run has its stops.

In the app

  1. Open the run on the Runs tab.
  2. Check the Route options:
    • Start: Current location, or Custom to search for an address.
    • End: Last stop, Round trip (back to the start), or Custom.
    • Travel mode: Driving or Walking.
  3. Tap Build route at the bottom.

The stops are put in order and the map shows the full route. The run shows how the order was made: Optimized by PathPilot, Optimized by Mapbox, or Not optimized · Your stop order.

When the route is built, the button changes to Start run. If you change the stops, use Rebuild route from the run's ⋯ menu. See Start a run and navigate.

Your own order

If you drag stops into your own order, PathPilot keeps it and does not re-optimize. The start and end options are locked until you tap Reset order.

On the website

  1. Open the run from Runs.
  2. In Options, set the Start (Current location or Custom address) and the End (Last stop, Round trip or Custom address). Tick Exclude completed locations to leave out stops that are done.
  3. Press Build route. Press Rebuild route after you change the stops.

When a route isn't optimized

The route still works and navigation still works, but the stops stay in their current order when:

  • the optimizer isn't responding (try Rebuild route later),
  • a stop, the start or the end is outside the area we can optimize,
  • the run has more than 300 stops,
  • it's a walking route with more than 12 stops, counting the start and end.

Large routes can take up to 30 seconds to build. See A route won't build, and app updates for the other messages.

Optimize a whole day (companies)

Dispatchers can split all of a day's stops across their drivers on the website.

  1. Open the Day grid for the date and press Optimize day.
  2. Under Drivers, untick anyone who is off. For each driver you can change the Shift, Start from and End at for this day.
  3. Under How to split, choose Shortest (least driving in total) or Balanced (drivers finish at about the same time).
  4. Press the optimize button. Review the proposal: who gets which stops, and any stops that were not placed and why.
  5. Press Apply proposal. The changes appear in the Day grid as unpublished changes. Drivers see nothing until you publish.

High priority stops are placed first, pinned stops stay with their driver, and time windows are never missed. Your company can run 30 optimizations a day.