What route optimization does
Route optimization finds the order of visiting a set of places that gives the shortest total drive. With 5 stops you could try every order by hand; with 15 stops there are more than a trillion orders, so it needs a computer. This tool gets the driving time between every pair of your stops from the road network, then searches for the order with the least total time.
How exact is it?
For up to 12 stops it checks every possible order and returns the best one, marked "best possible order" on the run sheet. For 13 to 50 stops it builds a route from several starting points and improves each one by reversing and moving parts of the route until nothing makes it shorter. On lists this size that lands at or within a few percent of the best order, in under a second.
Optimizing by time, not distance
The tool optimizes driving time, because that is what fills your day. Usually the fastest route is also close to the shortest, but a highway can make a longer drive quicker. The run sheet shows both the total time and distance, and how much shorter it is than the order you typed.
What it leaves out
Live traffic, delivery time windows, vehicle capacity and several drivers at once are not part of the calculation. For those, a paid fleet tool is built for the job; the compare page lists a few with their prices.
An example
Say you have nine customer visits across a city and typed them in the order the jobs came in. Driven in that order, the day might zigzag across town twice. Optimized, the route sweeps through one side of town and back along the other, and the run sheet shows the saving in miles and minutes right at the top, next to the total. On busy days that is often the difference between finishing before rush hour or after it.
Tips for a better result
- Write each address with its town and state or ZIP code, so the finder does not pick a street of the same name in another city.
- Check the matched address under each stop. If one is wrong, fix the line and plan again; the road times are cached, so it is quick.
- If two stops are next door to each other, keep them as separate lines; the planner will put them side by side on its own.
Keep a stop first or last
Your start is always first. To end somewhere fixed, put that place last in your list and choose Finish at my last line. You can also move any stop up or down after planning.