Brief Intro to PC Miler

PC*MILER generates point-to-point truck-specific mileage, routes, driving directions and maps over the complete highway system in North America, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Greenland.

Accuracy and reliability have positioned PC*MILER as the software used by 96 of the top motor carriers in the United States. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) also rely on PC*MILER as their worldwide distance standard. Over 800 FMCSA and state safety investigators use PC*MILER in their daily auditing procedures. In addition, more than 40 IFTA and IRP states and provinces use PC*MILER as an auditing tool for fuel and mileage tax audit procedures. If you're seeking to maximize your revenues while utilizing the safest, most cost-effective routing for your vehicles, then PC*MILER is your answer.

PC*MILER includes the following features and applications:

Point-to-Point Distance Calculation:

Routing and Optimization:

Detailed Driving Instructions:

State Mileage Summary Report:

Map Quality Graphics:

The PC*MILER database is modeled on ALK's proprietary computer representation of the North American highway system. The mileage generated in PC*MILER is derived from the FMCSA, Official State highway maps, State DOT maps, county maps, local maps, historical truck traffic and it's related GPS sightings, and information from thousands of industry contacts.

Available PC*MILER route types include:

Practical Routing represents the distances and driving routes a driver would normally take to minimize time and cost. Practical Routes model the trade-off between taking the most direct path and staying on major, high quality highways. Practical routing can be combined with Toll-Discouraged, National Network or 53'/102'' Trailer route types.

Shortest Routing represents the distances and driving routes a vehicle would take to minimize total distance traveled while still following a reasonable route. Shortest routing can be combined with Toll-Discouraged, National Network or 53'/102'' Trailer route types.

National Network Routing is based on a government-designated highway system for over-dimensionalized vehicles.

53'/102'' Trailer Routing is also based on a government-designated highway system for over-dimensionalized vehicles and incorporates the legal road designations for 53'/102'' trailers.

Toll-Discouraged Routing avoids long stretches of toll roads without taking impractical detours to avoid toll bridges and tunnels.

Hazardous Materials Routing generates point-to-point distances and driving directions for hauling hazardous materials and dangerous goods while ensuring compliance with nationwide hazmat, governmental and DOT regulations both in the U.S. and Canada. Routes can be generated for the following hazardous materials: General, Caustic, Explosives, Flammable, Inhalants, and Radioactives.
(PC*MILER|HazMat purchase required. See the PC*MILER|HazMat Feature Sheet and Brief Introduction for more information.)

The following PC*MILER features are covered in this section:

ROUTE ENTRY
In PC*MILER you can enter a route with an unlimited number of stops. PC*MILER route entry features include a Spelling Helper, ZIP/Postal Code Helper, and a pick list of state abbreviations. When you enter a city and state, PC*MILER will automatically assign the county name. Your route can include border crossings, highway junctions, truck stop locations, CAT Weigh Scale Stations, and your own custom names in addition to towns, cities, ZIP/Postal Codes, and latitude/longitude coordinates.

Every time you run a route in PC*MILER, four calculations are made for each leg of the trip: miles between stops, cumulative miles from origin, cumulative cost of the trip, and cumulative drive time for the trip. U.S. and Canadian toll costs can also be calculated if you have PC*MILER|Tolls installed! (PC*MILER|Tolls purchase required. See the PC*MILER|Tolls Feature Sheet and Brief Introduction for more information about our toll cost module.)

Route Entry Window

Once your route has been calculated, you may generate multiple routing scenarios:

HUB DISTANCE GENERATOR
PC*MILER allows you to generate mileage from one origin, defined as the 'Hub,' to unlimited destinations.

VEHICLE DIMENSION ROUTING
Building on PC*MILER's existing routing database and routing options, users can now identify a vehicle's height, length, width and weight in the Options dialog box when generating mileage summaries and driving directions. PC*MILER will then generate appropriate routing that takes into account height, weight and “oversized” restrictions. If a vehicle weight and/or height is entered, PC*MILER route calculations will take into account restrictions on roads and bridges to ensure that the vehicle's weight/height is below the restriction(s). Vehicle weight, length and width information is checked against the threshold at which a truck becomes “oversized” and appropriate routing is generated.

Units: The options available are English and Metric. These options control the format of information entered into the available fields. English Units refer to feet, inches, and pounds. Metric Units refer to meters and kilograms. The defaulted value is English Units.

Height: The Height dimension has two entry boxes for English Units in Feet and Inches. For Metric Units there is one entry box in Meters. The maximum height in English Units is 13'6''; for Metric Units it's 4.1148 meters. The defaulted values are 13'6'' in English Units and 4.1148 meters in Metric Units.

Length: The Length dimension has two entry boxes for English Units in Feet and Inches. For Metric Units there is one entry box in Meters. The maximum length in English Units is 53'; for Metric Units it's 16.1544 meters. The defaulted values are 48' in English Units and 14.6304 meters in Metric Units.

Width: The Width dimensions have two options for English Units of “96 or less” and “102 or more”. For Metric Units it has two options titled Width in Meters of “2.4384 or less” and “2.5908 or more”. The defaulted values are “96 or less” in English Units and “2.4384 or less” in Metric Units.

Weight: The weight parameter is calculated in tens of pounds or tens of kilograms, therefore any weight that is entered should be rounded up. The maximum weigh is English Units is 132,000 lbs and 59,874.1914 kg in Metric Units. The defaulted values are 80,000 lbs in English Units and 36,287 kg in Metric Units.

By Axles: (For PC*MILER|Tolls Users Only) The number of axles entered here is used only for the calculation of toll costs in PC*MILER|Tolls. If PC*MILER|Tolls is not installed, this option will be disabled. The available axles are 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The defaulted value is 5 axles in English and Metric Units.

ROUTE RESEQUENCING
Route Resequencing minimizes total route time and distance by re-ordering the stops entered in the active route entry window, keeping the origin the same. Resequencing a route gives you the optimal order of stops for your route and will dramatically reduce overall driven mileage. Depending on your specified routing type, resequencing a route can minimize the total time, distance, toll distance, or distance of the National Network of your route.

Resequenced Route

DRAG & DROP STOP MANAGEMENT
This feature enables users to move stops up and down within the active route entry window and between route entry windows. To move a stop within a window, first select a stop, hold down the <SHIFT> key and then use the <up> and <down> arrows to move the stop to the correct location within the trip. To move a stop between route entry windows, select a stop in one window, hold the left mouse button down, and drag the stop to another open route entry window. Once you release the mouse, the stop will be added to the end of the target route.

CUSTOM PLACE MANAGER
With PC*MILER, users can assign their own names to locations in the database to create customized place names for customers, terminals, warehouses or even distribution centers. To do so, select Manage Custom Places from the Tools menu to bring up the Custom Place Manager dialog. Then enter the name you wish to assign in the Custom Name field and the proper name of the location in the Location field. Click Add and your custom name will be added to the list in the dialog box. Click Pick Stop and it will be added to the stop list in the route entry window, marked with an asterisk (*). An unlimited number of custom points may be added and deleted.

Custom Place Manager

LOCATION RADIUS
For rate determination and pre-operation planning, the Location Radius tool lets you search for all cities, towns, ZIP/Postal Codes, points of interest, or custom points within a specified mileage radius around any location. Use the new Location Radius tool to create and analyze delivery, rating and mileage zones; visually and graphically analyze nearest depots or distribution centers; and graphically display locations within a specified radius on the map. To use this feature, open a route entry window and select the Location Radius tab.

AVOID AND FAVOR ROADS INDIVIDUALLY OR BY THE ENTIRE STATE
This feature allows you to indicate road segments, entire roads and entire jurisdictions you wish to avoid or favor when generating a route. Once your route has been generated, click on avoid and favor road buttons in the main Tool Bar and then click on the road segments you wish to avoid or favor on your route. A green or red highlighting will appear on the road segment selected; a green pattern indicates a favored road, while a red pattern indicates you have avoided that road. You can view road preferences in the Custom Roads Manager, where you can also designate whole jurisdictions to be avoided or favored and create seasonal sets of routing preferences. (See below for description of the Custom Roads Manager.)

Map View Without Avoid/Favor Settings

Map View With Avoid/Favor Settings

OVERRIDING TRUCK-RESTRICTED ROADS
This feature allows you to override truck-restricted roads (roads that trucks are prohibited to use by the controlling governmental authority). Roads in the PC*MILER database that are designated as restricted appear in yellow highlighting on the map. These restrictions often force you to take longer routes and in some cases deny access to more remote places. With the Override button you can manually override these otherwise restricted roads.

To override a truck-restricted road, simply check on “Custom” in the options dialog box, click on the Override button on the tool bar of the RouteMap window, and click on the road you wish to override. Once you have overridden a truck-restricted road, it will be outlined in a green highlighting. All changes will be taken into account for the next route.

SEASONAL ROUTING
This feature allows you to specify, save, and group different routing preferences based on seasonal routing conditions. For example, if you know certain portions of a route are often closed in the winter due to snow conditions, save that route as a 'summer' preference and your alternate route as a 'winter' preference.

CUSTOM ROADS MANAGER
The Custom Roads Manager allows you to see which road segments in the database are marked as avoided, favored, or overridden as accessible roads. Choose Manage Custom Roads from the Tools menu to open the Custom Roads Manager dialog box. As you override a prohibited road segment, a record is automatically saved in the Restriction Overrides tab. The Sets tab enables you to manage multiple sets of roads to be avoided, favored, or overridden, and allows you to create custom sets, such as seasonal routing preferences. You can also avoid or favor whole roads or whole states using the Roads and States tabs.

Custom Roads Manager

TRUCK STOP ROUTING
Truck stops appear as fuel pump icons on the map and can be added as stops on a route. To find truck stops in a particular state, users can type “@,” plus the state abbreviation in the route entry window to bring up a pick list then pick one from the list as a stop. Another way to add a truck stop to a route is to click the Pick Stops button on the tool bar and then click on a fuel pump icon on the map.

Once a route has been generated, PC*MILER creates several reports and a map

DETAILED ROUTE REPORT
The PC*MILER detailed route report gives you the following information: state, toll, or free road, direction of travel, route, segment distance, driving time, interchange point, leg mileage and time, cumulative trip mileage and total trip time. It also includes stop time and cost, empty or loaded status for each leg of the trip, and, if on-duty hours allowed between breaks has been specified and when breaks should occur.

Detailed Route Report

The Drivers Report is a large print option of the Detailed Route Report.

STATE DISTANCE SUMMARY REPORT
The state distance summary report summarizes mileage by state and 'country' traveled. Toll/free, empty/loaded and ferry mileage are listed, in addition to total miles. Toll costs can also be reported by state if PC*MILER|Tolls is also installed.

State Distance Summary Report

COMPARISON REPORT
The Comparison Report lists total mileage plus cost and time estimates for a generated route.

Comparison Report

FUEL OPTIMIZATION REPORT
Do you know where to purchase the most cost-effective fuel and how to tell your drivers where to find it? With PC*MILER|Fuel Optimization, we do the work for you! Optimized fuel purchase plans, based on daily fuel prices, are seamlessly integrated into PC*MILER's routes and reports. The optimized fuel plan provides purchasing information within your fueling networks, telling you where to make fuel purchases as well as how much fuel to buy at a given location. With fuel prices constantly changing from one truck stop or fueling location to another, optimized fuel purchases can save 4 cents to 11 cents per gallon and $1,200 per truck per year. To see details of the optimized fuel plan, in the Report menu at the top of the main window select Fuel Optimization. This report lists the suggested locations for purchasing fuel, and for each location shows how much fuel to purchase and the cost of the fuel. (PC*MILER|Fuel Optimization purchase required. See the PC*MILER|Fuel Optimization Feature Sheet for more information.)

Fuel Optimization Report

ROUTEMAP™
The RouteMap serves as an electronic road atlas, automatically displaying all routes and enabling users to visually evaluate routing alternatives to perform a variety of 'what-if' analyses. RouteMap users can click the right mouse button to zoom in and out of the display, frame routes, control map detail to view routes, roads, and place names, as well as display country and state boundaries, preferred and avoided roads, city names, highways and roads.

ZOOM TO STOP
This feature allows you to zoom in on a particular stop. Once you've entered stop(s) in the route entry window, highlight the stop you want to zoom in on. Click on the Zoom to Stop button on the tool bar and the map will automatically open centered around the highlighted stop.

INDIVIDUAL ROUTE FRAMING
This feature lets users automatically zoom in on one particular route on the map. In the route entry window, highlight a route to view and click on the Frame button. The map will display the entire route, centered in the RouteMap window.

Brief Intro to PC*Miler [Demo]