Redefining the map

As route-planning programs come of age, developers offer enhancements to improve the user’s experience

RexDon, a power-only transport company, has been a PC*Miler user almost since the day the trucking routing software became available. When General Manager Jerry Thomason got hold of the new PC*Miler 25 version, he found a useful feature.

Garmin International dezl routing tools for truckers offer enhanced traffic and mapping details.

Previously, Thomason says, if you wanted to favor or avoid certain road segments, you had to zoom in on the program map and click on each highway segment. It could be a tedious, time-consuming task and you might click on the wrong road. “With the new GeoFencing feature, I can draw a square or another shape around an area and say to avoid it,” he says. “There might be something about the route that we want to avoid. Or an area may have been flooded or hit by a tornado.”

Thomason also says company dispatchers are able to grab and move on-screen maps more easily. “It’s much more user-friendly,” he says.

The company, with about 80 owner-operators leased on, uses the program to compute mileage and locate pick-up and delivery locations. Mileage figures are used for making bids, billing, payroll and fuel tax reporting.

Route-planning providers are fine-tuning their offerings in the ongoing drive to outdo the competition and make the trucker’s life more profitable and safe. Dave Marsh, head of the development team at Rand McNally, says the team constantly talks with customers to update information and consider new features that will improve navigation. “We’ve added routing flexibility to allow drivers to find shorter routes that are truck friendly,” he says. “We want each driver to feel the system is unique to their preferences, so we’ve added to the number of preferences that are available to each driver.”