Service areas allow you to define designated working zones for your drivers. This helps the OptimoRoute algorithm assign work to specific drivers from the geographical areas or territories they are permitted or preferred to work from. In this article, we will go over how to create and assign service areas for your drivers.
| Who can use this feature | |
| All plans | |
| Users that have administrator privileges | |
| All regions | |
Configuring service areas
The first thing you will need to do is decide how your service areas will behave. To configure your service area behavior:
- Go to Administration→Settings
- Then in the left menu, choose Drivers→Service areas
Here you will find three options for defining your service areas:
Driver Fencing: Restrict Driver to Area
This option will ensure that the driver only services orders inside their service area and will prohibit the driver from receiving orders outside of the set area. If another driver's service area overlaps, orders can be served by either driver.
Example: Driver A's service area is defined as the city limits of Chicago. They cannot service any orders outside of the city limits of Chicago.
Restrict Orders in Area to Driver
This option makes sure all orders in a specific area go to a specific driver. If another driver's service area overlaps, orders can be serviced by either driver. Orders that are not part of any service area can be served by any driver.
Example: Driver A's service area is defined as the city limits of Chicago. Any orders inside of the city limits of Chicago will go to Driver A, but they can also service orders outside of this area.
Suspend Service Areas
This turns off the use of service areas meaning if any service areas are defined they will be ignored for the purposes of route planning.
Assigning service areas
Service areas for drivers can be set up in the Drivers section of the Administration area. To create a service area for a driver, use the following steps:
- Go to Administration→Settings
- In the left menu, go to Drivers
- Choose the driver you want to add a service area to and double click on them
- From the "Edit driver" window, click on "Service Areas"
- Use the controls on the left side of the map to draw a service area
All orders in this service area will be assigned to this driver. If another driver’s service area overlaps, orders will be shared between the two drivers.
After defining the service areas, you will need to plan or re-plan the routes for the service areas changes to take effect.
Seeing all service areas on the map
You can see all your service areas when planning in the "Plan and Optimize" tab.
- Go to "Plan and Optimize"
- Click the "Layers" icon in the top right corner of the map
- Check the box for "Service Areas"
Now you will see all your service areas overlayed on the map.