Logic

Route planner

Route planner puts the places that reach it in the best order to visit them in a day, from a start you pick: one route, one for each rep (by a field such as owner), or the stops shared out between a number of reps. Each stop gets its place in the route, the distance and time from the stop before, the route’s totals and a Google Maps directions link, ready for an email, Slack or a sheet.

In the editor: Puts the places that reach it in the best order to visit them in a day, from a start you pick: one route, one for each rep (by a field such as owner), or shared out between a number of reps. Each stop gets its visit_order, the distance and time from the stop before, and a Google Maps directions link for its route.

Settings

Start from

A setting

Search for the office, depot or a rep’s home and pick it, so it has a position. Every route starts there.

The office, depot or place the day starts from. Empty: the first stop.

Routes

Pick one

One route Every stop in one route.
One route for each rep (a field) A route for each value of a field, such as the owner Split by territory gives.
Share between reps The stops are shared out between 2 to 10 reps, each with a compact day.

Rep field

Text

The field that names each stop’s rep. Split by territory adds owner.

Needed before the flow can run.

How many reps

Pick one

By

Pick one

Car, Walking or Cycling: the roads and paths the routes follow, and the speed of the times.

Car
Walking
Cycling

Come back to the start

On or off

On: each route ends back at the start, and the last leg counts in its totals. Off: it ends at the last stop.

Most stops in a route

A number

Up to 50. Stops past it go on without a place in the route, and the step says how many.

Needed before the flow can run.

What comes out

Each item that leaves the block carries these fields, to use in the blocks after it as {{field}}.

For each stop

Every place with a position that is routed. Places keep all their own fields and get these.

route: The route’s name: Route, the rep’s name from the field, or Rep 1, Rep 2...
visit_order: Its place in the route, from 1.
leg_km, leg_min: The distance and minutes from the stop before (or from the start, for the first).
arrive_after_min: Minutes of travel from the start to this stop, without time spent at the stops before.
route_stops, route_km, route_min: The whole route’s stops, kilometres and minutes of travel.
route_link: A Google Maps directions link for this stop’s part of the route. Google takes at most 9 stops between a link’s start and end, so longer routes have several.
route_links: How many links the route has.
route_start: The name of the start.

When it is an estimate

The routing service could not plan the route: it is not set up, today’s share of it is used, or the call failed.

route_estimate: Yes. The order is worked out on straight lines, distances are 1.3 times the straight line and times are at a typical speed (car 30 km/h). The step and every email say so.

How to use it

FMCG distribution

Four reps, four routes, every morning

A beverage distributor in Toronto finds new shops every day and wants each of its four reps to get a tidy route at 07:00.

Share between reps gives every rep a compact slice; the email lists each route in order with its directions links.

Healthcare

Home visits for tomorrow

A home care team in Sydney keeps tomorrow’s visits in a table and wants each nurse’s round in order.

Before: A coordinator ordered the visits by hand every evening.

With the flow: Each nurse gets the visits in order, with minutes between them and a link to follow.

Retail

Store audits by area manager

The sheet gets visit_order, leg_km and route_link, so each manager prints their week.

Field service

Today’s repairs in order

An elevator maintenance company in Johannesburg gets the day’s jobs from its system by webhook and wants them routed for one technician.

Reply sends the route back to the system that asked, ready for the technician’s app.

Real estate

Viewings on foot

With By set to Walking, a city-centre agent gets a route that follows footpaths and the minutes between viewings.

Banking and payments

Merchants to visit this week

A payments team in Mexico City scores new merchants and wants the best ones visited in the fewest kilometres.

Delivery apps

Restaurants to sign, by bike

Most stops in a route set to 15 keeps the day doable; the others wait for tomorrow.

Government and cities

Inspections for the week

Before: Inspectors crossed the city between visits.

With the flow: Each inspector’s visits run in order, with directions.

Good to know

Up to 50 stops in a route (Most stops in a route). Stops past it, and places without a position, go on after the routes without a visit_order, and the step says how many.
Shared between reps, every rep starts from the same place. For reps who start from home, use One route for each rep with a field, after Split by territory.
Times are travel times on the roads for usual traffic; time spent at each stop is not added.
A route planned once for the same stops is kept for 30 days, so running it again costs nothing.
When the routing service is not set up, today’s share of it is used, or a call fails, the route is worked out on straight lines: it is free, each stop has route_estimate Yes, and the step and every email say it is an estimate.
Credits are counted per stop routed on the roads; estimates and kept routes are free.

Works well with

Nearby places: Places around a point from xMap’s own places database (300M+ places, refreshed every month): pick the types of place (more than 5,000, such as Restaurant, Cafe, Pharmacy, Hospital or Gas station, or a whole group of them) and how far to look.
My data: Brings in a table you uploaded or a list you saved on the My data page: your stores, customers, target accounts or sites.
Email: Sends one email per run with all the items, or one email per item.
Slack: Channel-based messaging platform
Google Sheets: Create, edit, and collaborate on spreadsheets online
Filter: Keeps only the items that match a rule.
Sort and limit: Puts the items in order, and can keep only the first ones: the 10 best rated, the 20 nearest, the highest fit scores.
Travel area: The area you can reach within a travel time (15 minutes by car) or a distance by road (10 km), on foot, by bike or by car, from each incoming place or from places you pick.

Templates that use it

Store visit route for a due diligence trip: The branches of a chain you are studying, the strongest and the weakest marked, in the best order to visit them.
Routes for the weekly surplus food pickup: Bakeries and supermarkets shared between your vans in the best pickup order.
Night patrol routes past banks and jewellers: Banks and jewellers shared between patrol cars in the best order each night.
A scout’s weekend route through clubs and pitches: Clubs and pitches around your academy in the best order for a weekend of scouting.
Field sales routes to sign up new restaurants: New independent restaurants shared between your field reps in the best visiting order.
Merchandiser visit plan for the week: Each merchandiser’s stores for the week, in the best order from the depot, around road closures.
Fire safety visits to hotels, with the routes: Hotels to visit for fire safety, shared between inspectors in the best order.

Stories with it

First through every new bakery's door (Food distribution)
Three van routes ready before the pierogi cool (Food maker)
Twelve fair routes before the officers leave (Microfinance)
The forty clinics that need a visit (Pharmaceuticals)
Every visit made before the storm (Home care)
Five riders who never sit in a closed road (Courier services)
Not one sofa caught in the afternoon storm (Furniture delivery)
Bikes at every dock on the hottest day (Bike share)
Six drivers, fair shares, no door twice (Local delivery)
Three hundred farms, and no tanker turned back (Dairy cooperative)
Every tower filled before the floods (Mobile networks)

Help articles

Plan the day’s routes for your reps: Put the stops in the best order, one route or one for each rep, with directions links.
Check in at each stop on your phone: Today’s visits in order: navigate, then say what happened, add a note and a photo.

Guides and terms

Territory planning: Dividing a market into areas for reps or teams.
Route planning: Putting a day's visits into a good order, for one rep or several.

Industries that use it

FMCG & distribution · Government & cities · Investors & consultants · Non-profits & humanitarian · Security & emergency services · Sports clubs & leagues · Food delivery & quick commerce

Try it

Build a flow with Route planner on the home page, no account needed, or book a call. Try it live