DI Optimize - version 1.7.4

You can now install version 1.7.4 of our Optimize plugin.
Along with general improvements, here are the main updates:

Easier break creation

You can now add breaks when setting up your fleet. Previously, you had to use the break layer in the layer panel, but with the new interface, you can do this directly while configuring your fleet.

Simply click the Add Break button on your vehicle, and a pop-up for breaks will appear. You can also pinpoint the break location on the map by clicking the Map button.

Route time classifications

You can now see a detailed breakdown of route time into travel, service, pause, and wait times.

This information is also included in the route summary box, making it easier to extract data with accurate time classifications.

Parking time

Parking time can be added to the vehicle. This will add time per stop, but note that locations that are very close to each other may share one parking time. In practice, you might have two modules placed just a few meters apart, where the travel time between them is effectively zero. In such cases, only one parking time will be added. This makes the most sense in reality, as it’s rare for a driver to park, get a parking time, deliver one newspaper, get back in the car, drive one meter, and then get another parking time. In these situations, the driver would park once, incur a single parking time, deliver to both modules, then get back in the car and continue driving.

Parking time can be added to a vehicle by creating a new profile in the fleet section of the plugin.

To add parking, you can do the following:

1 Open a vehicle group or add a new vehicle group.

2 Click the "..." button.

3 Give your new profile a name.

4 In the stop duration per stop field, add the parking time you want. In this example, I’ve added 10 seconds.

5 Click Add.

6 Click Save.

You should now be able to select this profile from the dropdown menu in the vehicle group setup.

If set up correctly the parking time should be reflected in the time spent on the location, and you will find the time added to the duration column in the sequence layer.

We’ve also added new sanity checks for time windows. You’ll now receive a notification if the time windows set for vehicles don’t align with breaks or order times. This allows you to correct any issues before sending routes for optimization.

Along with these updates, we’ve made several smaller improvements to further enhance the overall user experience. One example is a change in the mapping assistant, where we have limited the options in the drop-down menus to match the required type of each field in the input layer you are creating. This means you can no longer select a string field in a column that is required to be numeric.

If you have any questions about these new features, don’t hesitate to reach out.