@mappingtoolsMapPoint’s routing engine can be extended with custom programing or a third party add-in or tool. We sell three such products: MPRouteWriter, MPMileCharter, and MPMileage. MPRouteWriter manages multi-waypoint routes, whilst MPMileCharter and MPMileage are both batch route calculation tools.
MPRouteReader / MPRouteWriter
MPRouteReader and MPRouteWriter are actually two halves of the same product that ships as MPRouteWriter. These make it easier to import and/or export multi-waypoint routes and matching data to/from Microsoft Excel or a text file.
MPRouteReader creates a multi-waypoint route from existing pushpins, using a pushpin data field to determine their order in the route. For example, the original database could have a “Sequence number” data field which determines the order. Import this as a data field with the rest of the pushpin data, and MPRouteReader can use it to create the intended route.
MPRouteWriter exports a route’s waypoints to Microsoft Excel or a text file. They are exported in order with location, distance, and time information. However, the real power is that it also matches the waypoints with their original pushpins, and writes the pushpin information out as well. Rest stops can be optionally written as well. Here is an example output worksheet:
Example MPRouteWriter output
MPMileCharter
MPMileCharter is a batch mileage computation add-in that is intended to create mileage tables in Microsoft Excel. Give it two pushpin sets of locations, and it will calculate all distances between points in the two datasets. As well as route distances, it can calculate travel times and route costs, plus it supports all of MapPoint’s routing options. By using the same pushpin set for both the source and destination locations, you can create “road atlas style” mileage tables.
The MPMileCharter Professional license also has the very powerful “find closest” option. This can be used to report only the closest destinations that are also within a specific distance. For example, you could use it to perform queries such as “find only the three closest stores to each of my customers that are also within 10 miles“.
MPMileage
MPMileage is also a batch calculation tool. MPMileage calculates distances and travel times for a long list of point-to-point routes that are listed in a database. This contrasts with MPMileCharter which can only work with groups of pushpins.
MPMileage generally takes more setting up, as it requires a database that lists the routes (as names of source & destination pushpins) and receives the calculations; plus a MapPoint map file with all the pushpin points defined. However, MPMileage works as an application that calls MapPoint in the background, and can take advantage of multiple processors. Therefore on a quad core computer, it can run significantly faster than MPMileCharter.
MPMileage also supports all of MapPoint’s routing options, plus Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and all ODBC-aware databases (including SQL Server).
