Pre-configured logistics planning – stand-alone or as a scheduling enhancement

March 31, 2011 -- Now that map-based planning and analysis have become such essential tools for any organisation working in logistics, MapMechanics has launched a new product, GeoXploit Logistics – a powerful and fully-featured yet easy-to-use geographical analysis package tailored specifically for the needs of the logistics market.

The package is designed to give non-specialist users quick and intuitive access to many of the more demanding planning and analytical processes typical of logistics work, including drivetime calculation, catchment analysis, territory management, customer analysis and route planning.

If required, GeoXploit Logistics can be used in conjunction with industry-standard routing and scheduling optimisation software. It comes pre-configured to work with MapMechanics’ own TruckStops solution.

However, GeoXploit Logistics is also a highly capable product in its own right, ideally suited for use on a stand-alone basis by logistics organisations who do not have or need a dedicated scheduling system, but who need to do other types of logistics planning or analysis.

GeoXploit Logistics is a specially enhanced version of GeoXploit, a package that was launched by MapMechanics two years ago to bring the power of a high-end mapping analysis system within reach of non-specialist users.

At its heart is GeoConcept, one of the most powerful and capable geographic information systems on the market. This is paired with an extensive range of pre-configured mapping and related data sets from suppliers such as the AA, Ordnance Survey, NAVTEQ, Royal Mail, Microsoft Bing and the Office of National Statistics. These are offered at a much more affordable package price than if all the components were supplied and licensed individually.

The new GeoXploit Logistics version adds a variety of additional components to the mix. For instance, not only does it have the classic “find the nearest” proximity capability; its Service Allocator feature can also create a matrix of travel times and distances to each of the nearest twenty locations matching users’ criteria. The system is supplied with the fields ready to receive the relevant information.

GeoXploit Logistics also has enhanced drive time calculation capabilities. As well as allowing users to set it to calculate car driving or pedestrian walking speeds, it includes truck speeds to calculate routes and journey-time matrices for logistics users.

In addition to the street mapping provided in a fast compressed format to provide quick efficient backgrounds to logistics analysis, GeoXploit Logistics includes AA 1:200,000 scale vector mapping. This enables users to edit the characteristics of the road network – for instance, changing speeds on individual roads, adding road links or forcing routing to ignore certain roads such as those that might be closed in winter.

For the benefit of TruckStops users, GeoXploit Logistics offers two-way integration. Call points sequenced by the TruckStops routing and scheduling system are easily imported and plotted on a map, and similarly data processed by GeoXploit Logistics can be passed to TruckStops for use in scheduling.

A pre-configured feature allows users to produce ready-made coloured route maps showing call points on a journey, coloured by route and numbered by sequence. Features such as this can be accessed quickly by means of tabs positioned along the bottom of the window.

In common with the standard version, GeoXploit Logistics includes digital map data at various scales for display and thematic analysis; aerial photography; up-to-date postcode boundaries for territory management; and various geodemographic and business data sets for working out where people and organisations are and how to serve them.

Users can import their existing customer or corporate data using drag-and-drop functionality, and can take advantage of a range of pre-set processes to display colour-coded data in graphical or chart form on maps. They can also make use of ready-made drive times or create their own journey-time catchments.

GeoXploit Logistics offers plenty of compatibility with other software, allowing easy transfer of results to Excel spreadsheets or other familiar software packages.

GeoXploit Logistics is available either as a stand-alone package, complete with all software and data components, or as an upgrade to GeoXploit standard version or to TruckStops VRS.

About MapMechanics

• MapMechanics has been providing innovative solutions in logistics planning, sales and marketing, digital mapping and geographic analysis for over twenty years.
• MapMechanics develops, supplies and supports TruckStops, one of the world’s best-established routing and scheduling solutions, and its portfolio includes a wide range of optimisation solutions. Examples include specialist systems for optimising transport of full or part loads, for servicing a high density of calls on the same streets and for optimising use of pallet networks.
• MapMechanics is the UK distributor of the GeoConcept geographic information system, which is used extensively in a diverse range of fields such as depot planning, retail planning, marketing, healthcare, environmental planning and management, transport and logistics, site selection and territory allocation, telematics and command and control applications, policing and broadcasting, and central and local government.
• MapMechanics also uses digital map-based technologies to offer an extensive range of Web, desktop, paper and component solutions for a variety of business applications, from atlas production to business analysis, site selection, customer profiling and vehicle routing and scheduling.
• MapMechanics distributes a wide range of data products including AA, NAVTEQ and Ordnance Survey digital mapping, as well as leading business and demographic datasets from many sources throughout the world. This data is listed in the Data Catalogue, which is probably the most extensive and up-to-date printed listing of its kind in Britain, and is published at least once a year, as well as being available on the Internet.
• Backing up its extensive product range, MapMechanics offers a comprehensive service of implementation support and training.

Contact:

Katy McKenna
MapMechanics
Canal Court, 155 High Street,
Brentford, London, TW8 8JA
Email: Email Contact
Tel: +44 (020) 8568 7000
Fax:+44 (020) 8568 7400
http://www.GeoXploit.com