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Originally Posted by GRB53
Toothpick:
If your company provides routing, then great! Just sync up Streets and Trips to match up with your company routing and you are ready to go.
How would you go about "syncing up"?
Thanks,
Randy
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Well normally when I get dispatched I receive a designated fuel stop along with routing. The routing that I receive with the fuel stop is intermediate, meaning that it will contain the recommended roads that you should travel on, but not the specific directions to and from the shippers and consignees. For that, I request specific directions via the qualcomm and the system sends them to me.
In MS Streets and Trips, I first right click my current location on the map and designate it as the start. Next, I input the shipper?s address, find the location, and then route the software to the shipper?s location. Once I do that, I compare the software generated routing to the directions to the shipper that I have since received back from the system to ensure that they are one and the same and that the software generated routing and directions match up.
If there is a difference between the two, I usually drag and drop the routing to match the directions that I received via the qualcomm, because I know that if I receive directions via the system that in all probability those directions are going to be adequate and safe for big trucks.
To drag and drop a route, simply click the route with the left mouse button. While keeping the button depressed, simply drag the routing to the route that you would prefer, then release the mouse button.
After I got the directions to the shipper taken care of, I next input my fuel stop. When I receive my fuel stop and routing, the information contained therein will usually give me specific location information for the fuel stop, i.e., city and state and hwy and exit information for the location of the truck stop that has been designated as the fuel stop. I then either locate the specific location on the map and right click it to add it as a stop or in my specific case since I have most of the truck stops already loaded into my default map file, I simply find the specific truck stop, right click it, and add it as a stop.
The next thing I do after adding my fuel stop is to add the location of the consignee. To do that, I do it the same way that I did for the shipper. You first enter the address of the consignee, click add to route, the software then finds and locates it, then click get directions and the software routes you to the final destination.
Again, I compare the software generated routings to the directions I received from our system and if there are any discrepancies, I simply drag and drop the routes to match the ones that I received from my company and that way I know that they are safe for traveling via a big truck.
Once all of that has been completed, I next look over the entire route that now has been generated and compare it to the routing that was sent along with my fuel stop information. If there are any differences, I simply drag and drop the routing to match the same roads and highways that were contained in the company generated routing.
Once everything is synchronized and matches up totally, I next save the map using the load assignment number. I set up folders for each month and save the trips that I do each month in those folders. That way if I ever have questions or need to go back for any reason, all I have to do is look it up by month and then by load assignment number.
I?d say that about 90 plus percent of the time, the routing generated by MS Streets and Trips will match up with the routing supplied by your company and you won?t have to do any drag and dropping. Additionally, a lot of the time when there is a difference between the two, if you look it over good, the routing generated by MS Streets and Trips will often times be shorter and faster. So it all kind of depends.
Also, in order for MS Streets and Trips to generate routes comparable to the routing you receive from your company and that closely matches it, you?ll first have to play around and experiment with your preference setting which you are able to setup and configure from inside MS Streets and Trips.
Wallah?there you have it in a nutshell, and I promise you that I can plan and route a trip much faster than I can type this reply.
