PC Miler: Duplicate Route & Change Route Type

Guided Tour to PC Miler

Guided Tour: Duplicate Route and Change the Route Type

We are now going to open a second route by duplicating Route 1:

Activate the Route 1 entry window using the Windows menu – select it from the bottom of the menu.

Choose Duplicate Route from the File menu. The duplicate route is named “Route 2” by default.

In the Route 2 window, click on the Options button in the City or Address tab and change the Routing option for Route 2 to Shortest, then click OK. The new route will automatically run.

Click on the map window and see how Route 2 has been altered because you changed the route type. It is also interesting to note that Route 2 takes significantly longer than Route 1 even though it travels a slightly shorter distance (we’ll create a Comparison Report in the next step of the Tour to see this).

Guided Tour: View the Comparison Report

A Comparison Report includes a summary of the total mileages, cost estimates, and time estimates for all currently open routes. To view the comparison report for both of your routes, either click the Comparison Report button on the tool bar or select Comparison from the Report menu.

Guided Tour: Resequence the Route

PC*MILER can resequence the stops in a route, thereby optimizing trip time, cost and mileage. Let’s resequence Route 1:

Close Route 2 (select it from the Windows menu and then select Close Route from the File menu or click the “X” button in the upper right corner of the window).

Make sure Route 1 is the active route, then duplicate it again (select Duplicate Route from the File menu).

Select Resequence Stops... from the Route menu, and make sure the Run route after resequencing option is checked.

Click OK to resequence the stops in the new Route 2 window.

Select Comparison from the Report menu.

As you can see, PC*MILER determined that the optimal route would have Manchester as its destination and Armstrong as the second stop. The resequenced route is significantly different from the version of the same route that you entered yourself. In fact, by allowing PC*MILER to resequence this route, the shipping company running Route 1 would potentially save about 103 miles and over 50 minutes of driving time, plus the additional trip costs!