Smart Driving
SMART DRIVING
MAX KVIDERA
As route-planning programs
come of age, developers offer
enhancements to improve
the user’s experience
R
exDon, 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.
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 pickup 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
COU
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RAN
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The Rand McNally TND 760 Fleet Edition device combines route-planning
functions, navigation and electronic hours of service recording.
22 TRUCKERS NEWS JANUARY 2012
Garmin International dezl
routing tools for truckers
offer enhanced traffic and
mapping details.
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.”
Following find a sample of what some of the major
route-planning tool providers have developed. Additional
features are planned for early this year, developers say.
RAND MCNALLY TND 760
This device is a combination routing tool and electronic
onboard recorder. The product integrates into a truck’s
onboard computer and can send information via Wi-Fi and
cellular. It offers communications via email, driver and vehicle performance monitoring, hours-of-service compliance
and navigation.
As an EOBR, the product is Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rule 395.15 compliant and provides
HOS alerts and warnings while automatically recording
hours. On the routing side, the device offers routes based
on load dimensions and 200 vehicle-specific measures,
using IntelliRoute TND navigation.
Although targeted at fleets, the device is attracting
owner-operator interest. “One of our first customers was
an owner-operator fleet of less than five operators,” says
Amy Krouse, Rand McNally spokeswoman. “They’re seeing the value of being in compliance with an electronic
help mate in the cab.”
For Jones Motor Group, the device combines several functions in one tool. “It blends Wi-Fi capability,
mapping, a navigational component and an onboard
continued on page 69
COURTESY GARMIN INTERNATIONAL
Redefining
the map