Service areas let you define designated working zones for your drivers. This helps OptimoRoute assign work to drivers based on the geographic areas or territories where they are permitted or preferred to work. In this article, you’ll learn how to create service areas and assign them to drivers.
| Who can use this feature | |
|---|---|
| Available for all plans | |
| Users that have administrator privileges | |
| All regions | |
Configuring service areas
Before creating service areas, choose how OptimoRoute should use them during route planning.
To configure service area behavior:
- Go to Administration→Settings
- Then in the left menu, choose Drivers→Service areas
- Here you will see the service area options that will be taken into account when planning your routes
- Choose your option and click "Save"
Service area options
You can choose from three service area behavior options:
Driver Fencing: Restrict Driver to Area
This restricts where a driver can work.
Use this option to restrict drivers to orders within their assigned service areas. Drivers will not be assigned orders outside their service areas.
If multiple drivers have overlapping service areas, orders in the overlapping area can be assigned to any of those drivers.
This setting has an additional option to allow drivers without a designated service area to perform work anywhere, including someone else's service area.
Example: Driver A’s service area is set to the Chicago city limits. Driver A will only be assigned orders within the Chicago city limits.
Restrict Orders in Area to Driver
This restricts who can serve orders in an given area.
Use this option to make sure orders within a service area are assigned only to the driver or drivers assigned to that area. Drivers can still be assigned orders outside their service areas.
If multiple drivers have overlapping service areas, orders in those overlapping areas can be assigned to any of those drivers. Orders outside all service areas can be assigned to any driver.
Example: Driver A’s service area is set to the Chicago city limits. Orders within the Chicago city limits will be assigned to Driver A, but Driver A can also be assigned orders outside Chicago.
Suspend Service Areas
Use this option to temporarily disable service areas. Any defined service areas will be ignored during route planning if this option is selected.
Creating service areas for drivers
Service areas can be set up in the "Drivers" section in administration settings.
To create a service area for a driver:
- 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
- Once you create the area, you can click the space to drag the area to a more precise position
- Click "Save"
After defining the service areas, you will need to plan or re-plan the routes for the service areas changes to take effect.
| Tip: You can view other drivers' service areas by clicking on the map layers. Other drivers' service areas will be shown in the window in gray. |
Seeing all service areas on the map
You can see all your service areas when planning in the "Plan and Optimize" tab.
To show the service areas:
- 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.