Week 16: Route Optimization — Feb 8 – 14, 2025
TL;DR: Route optimization is live. The system now calculates optimal job sequences to minimize total drive time, saving technicians hours per week.
Highlights This Week
- Implemented route optimization algorithm for daily job sequences
- Added map visualization of optimized routes
- Built drive time estimation using geographic calculations
Why Routes Matter
Field service companies waste 20-30% of their day on windshield time — driving between jobs. Route optimization reorders the daily job sequence to minimize total travel distance. For a 6-job day, the difference between a bad route and an optimal one can be 45+ minutes saved.
How It Works
The optimizer takes a technician’s daily job list and evaluates permutations using a nearest-neighbor heuristic with 2-opt improvement. Starting from the technician’s home location, it finds the shortest total path visiting all job sites. The result is visualized on a map with numbered waypoints.
What’s Next
Technician scoring and performance analytics for dispatchers.