GIS EVOLUTION – From Drafting to Dreaming

2011 GIS CONFERENCE

Optimized routing is now a “Green” solution with a cost effective price tag

Peter van Muyden

2011 Conference

Agenda• Background• Who uses optimized routing• Optimized routing background• Web based demonstration• Fat client demonstration• Conclusion• Questions and answers

2011 Conference

Background

• 31 years with EPCOR ( Edmonton Power)• Was part of the “ from manual drafting to

computer aided drafting” phase• Interest in consumer software solutions• Certified International Sailboat Race Officer

2011 Conference

Who uses optimized routing

• Most of us ( Garmin devices, Tom Tom, etc)• Freight companies• Any transportation company• Utilities (Meter reading & Bill deliveries)

2011 Conference

Optimized routing background• Basic ( between two points)

– The quickest way from Address one to Address two

• More complex ( Covering multiple points)– The quickest way covering multiple address or assets.

2011 Conference

Dijkstra's Algorithm• (N Edges)2

2011 Conference

Additional features & functionality• Road type for speed (primary vs. secondary roads)• Time of day travel ( higher friction at rush hours, no turns at certain

hours)• Appointment time (A fixed time)• Manage non truck routes (trucks are only allowed in a non truck

route for deliveries)• No left turns (Safety)• Multiple vehicles/workers• Leave assets to be inspected/viewed/cleaned on the right side• Avoid high accident areas• Avoid construction areas

2011 Conference

Driving a route taking only right turns instead of left turns is more fuel efficient than driving normally, because the vehicle uses up more gas idling while waiting for traffic to clear on a left turn than taking three right turns.

Confirmed

For their first test, the Build Team drove a regular size car on a controlled course. On the first run, they drove the car around a block using a left hand turn, but had to wait for a turn signal. In the second run, they instead took three right turns to bypass the signal, but the route was longer. The results showed that by taking only right hand turns, the car managed to cover more distance in less time while only consuming about 1% more fuel. For a more realistic result, the Build Team obtained a full size delivery truck and delivered packages to several locations throughout San Francisco. After driving a route that included some left hand turns, they repeated the exact same route, but replaced all of the left turns with right turns. After reviewing their results, the Build Team discovered that the right turn route was more fuel efficient by 3%, despite having to driver a longer distance. Kari then pointed out that this would be an ideal strategy for delivery trucks in urban environments, but would not work as well with regular cars.

2011 Conference

Why companies don’t embrace routing

• It’s not traditional• Manpower issues • Drip feeding work

2011 Conference

Demostrations• Microsoft Mappoint

– Overall map– Turn by turn– Strip maps

• findthebestroute.com

2011 Conference

Conclusions• Optimized routing:

– Cost effective– Green– Improves safety– Recommand a GIS vendor independent solution

(Database, batch)– Hard to convince the work force– Best maps provided to contractor

2011 Conference