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BUILDING THE DATABASE

28th October 2010
Page 45
Page 45, 28th October 2010 — BUILDING THE DATABASE
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The quality of the information in the database is clearly paramount, and Chris Sisson shows us a couple of areas where the system is, as he puts it, self-learning'. For instance, when you enter the address of a delivery site into the system, it is given a 'Geocode Quality' rating, according to how reliable and usable the information is: an entry that has just been selected from a mouse position on a map might be rated as 'self-geocoded'; later, it might be re-geocoded by the delivery driver himself his vehicle's GPS system will give the precise location of the delivery point.

Vehicles are lust one of the types of resources that are available: "We don't have vehicles as such," says Sisson. "We have pieces of equipment it's more flexible." The system can handle multicompartment trucks and trailers, including mixed-temperature vehicles and compartment tankers, and the Fleet Loader module can optimise the positioning of ioads.

Delivery time the 'service time' taken to undertake a delivery is a variable that needs careful definition: the Roadnet system can deal with multiple types of service times, including fixed components (such as the extra time needed to negotiate a set of stairs) and variable components (such as the time taken to discharge a particular volume of bulk liquid). The system will also allow you to load service time overrides with a particular set of data if you know, for instance, that service times will be longer this week due to a staff shortage.

The Roadnet system will accept map data from a number of sources, but the firm typically uses Navteq mapping: "We've looked at this and we believe that Navteq is best for the UK," says Sisson.

The interface allows an operator to edit maps easily, adding or deleting streets and including turning restrictions for Instance, if you know from experience that your vehicles cannot negotiate a particular junction. "The maps and the road network are fully configurable," says Sisson.

Incidentally, when we visited 121 Systems we were shown a map of the roads near to the CM offices, and noticed that one of the legal turning restrictions was missing: we pointed this out, 121 Systems notified Navteq, and sure enough the correct restriction was in place on Navteq's mapping within a couple of weeks.

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