Seeking Efficient Solutions for Optimizing Delivery Routes in Power Apps

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Posted on 19 Jan 2024 14:07:54 by trjackson77

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Hi Power Apps Community,

I'm working on an exciting challenge and could use your insights. Our company utilizes Power Apps to manage deliveries to our client base of approximately 6,000 customers. The goal is to optimize our delivery routes, making them as efficient as possible.

The Challenge: We currently have a Power App that pulls in data, including postcodes for our deliveries. We're looking to generate a report that identifies potential customers near our scheduled delivery drops. The idea is to offer additional deliveries while we're in the vicinity, optimizing both our delivery routes and capacity.

Current Approach: We've explored using the Bing Maps connector to calculate journey durations for all 6,000 customers for each drop. While this works in theory, it becomes impractical with scale. For instance, with just 10 drops, we're looking at over 60,000 calls to the Bing Maps API.

Considered Alternative: To address this, I've thought about creating a 'distance matrix' in a database with customer pairs, calculated once using Bing Maps. However, this approach would require around 36 million API calls, which is far from ideal.

Seeking Your Expertise: I'm looking for a more elegant solution. Has anyone tackled a similar challenge, or can anyone suggest a more efficient approach to optimize our delivery process using Power Apps and Bing Maps? Any advice on reducing API calls while maintaining accuracy in route optimization would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Cheers,

Tim

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CU13030951-0 2 on 13 Mar 2025 at 10:11:33

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Seeking Efficient Solutions for Optimizing Delivery Routes in Power Apps

Great article! Optimizing delivery routes is crucial for efficiency, especially in industries that rely on timely deliveries. Power Apps is a fantastic tool for this, as it offers flexibility and scalability. However, it's important to choose the right app for route optimization. For those looking for an effective solution, you might want to check out the best route optimization app, which can help streamline your processes. Implementing such tools can lead to significant cost savings and improved customer satisfaction.
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Inogic 991 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 02 Aug 2024 at 04:09:04

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Seeking Efficient Solutions for Optimizing Delivery Routes in Power Apps

Hi Tim,

Hope you have got your solution. If not, we would recommend you to have a look at Maplytics. It is a certified software solution in the geolocation category of Microsoft AppSource that works seamlessly with Dynamics 365, Dataverse, and Power Apps. The add-on is created with several features that help empower businesses with the power of location intelligence.

Choosing the best route-planning software for delivery services depends on the specific needs and requirements of the organization. Usually, the factors considered are-

Does the route planning software integrate seamlessly with your dispatch systems, fleet management tools, or accounting software?

How user-friendly is the mobile app for drivers?

Does the application provide a free trial to check out if the offerings meet the needs of the user’s environment?

Similarly, a good plannable routing app has to be cost-effective. The Route Optimization feature of Maplytics makes it an ideal optimized routing application. The deliveries/meetings/appointments that have been planned with Auto Scheduling get optimized travel routes with turn-by-turn travel directions. The optimized routes plotted in this manner avoid traffic, tolls, and highways. The routes are flexible and can accommodate additional pitstops/waypoints and client places as per impromptu requirements.

The optimized routes can be plotted for transit by car, truck, and by walk. In the case of transport or delivery trucks, the specifications of the vehicles such as weight, dimensions, axels, along with the kind of material carried can also be specified. The trucks can also be traced in real-time by tracking the drivers.

Route Optimization allows the route and the directions to be viewed on Google Maps, Waze App, or Apple Maps on mobiles and tablets. With routes so well planned and adoptive, the user is stress-free. He knows he is guided well and is following the shortest travel distance or time. Time isn’t lost in searching for new addresses and locations. The delivery mails are not lost in transit. If the delivery van needs immediate attention, repair centers nearby can be plotted with Maplytics and the route can be re-designed automatically to reach it quickly. The travel time is gauged so properly that the exact time of the last delivery can also be predicted. With everything planned and under control, the costs of additional fuel are saved. Thus, using Route Optimization is an ‘it’ move with Maplytics.

With Maplytics, you are assured of getting efficient delivery routes. With the Along the Route option, you can plot clients along the delivery routes to plan additional deliveries. Bing Maps license comes integrated with Maplytics, hence, using it multiple times is feasible. The feature of Radius/ Proximity Search can be your personal matrix calculating travel distance and time. Thus, you should definitely try out this elegant, easy-to-use, and sophisticated solution.

For more details or a free trial, do write to the team at crm@inogic.com or check out the Website!

Thanks,

Sam

Email: crm@inogic.com

Website: www.inogic.com

Blog: www.inogic.com/blog