Dynamic views
Visual dispatch packs more data onto a single screen
Flexible screen views are one of the hallmarks of updated dispatch software systems. With Windows, Java and similar software platforms, users are able to move and resize columns and add color coding, icons and other visualization tools to put more information onto one screen without taking up additional real estate.
Previous versions of software platforms relied on character-based views to display information. To help users better organize an abundance of onscreen data, the industry first tried making the text different colors, but that began to make a screen unreadable.
“Icons and pictures are much more effective and flexible than colors in communicating large amounts of critical information with the end user,” says Steve Blair, general manager of TransCore’s Logistics Software. “It really is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.”
Maps have become one of the most popular visual tools in dispatch software. Software developers use digital maps to overlay additional data so users can see information geographically. With a mouse click, users can drill down to find more details about a particular asset, driver or customer.
TMW Systems is integrating Navteq map data to bring new geographic visualization and routing tools to its customers. The development program will be released later this year as an add-on product to TMW’s enterprise systems that include TMW Suite, TruckMate and the Innovative Enterprise System.
Dispatchers will be able to use the new mapping product to visualize the current location and position history of assets. They also will be able to use Navteq’s advanced street-by-street mapping and routing capabilities to calculate more accurate distances, ETAs and out-of-route mileages.
TMW also is working to offer turn-by-turn navigation on its D2Link application for GPS-enabled wireless phones. The mobile D2Link application integrates with dispatch systems to update trips and send dispatch assignments to drivers.
Map views work best for desktop monitors, but some people want access to dispatch systems from their cell phones, notebooks and other mobile devices. Aljex uses the Google Maps application as an underlying database for its TIN Software, a visually oriented dispatch system hosted on the Internet. Users quickly can change their screen view to a “non-map” version to view shipment information in a spreadsheet style that fits the screen size of mobile devices, says Tom Heine, Aljex president.
Software that combines graphical analysis tools, often called dashboards, with map views in a single-screen helps dispatchers and managers organize their workflow, says Rick Pontin, chief executive officer of Airclic, a provider of mobile applications.
Airclic recently added dashboards to maps views of business operations. For instance, dispatchers and managers can use the graphical dashboards to segment drivers into different groups, analyze the activities of each group and the exceptions around those activities, Pontin says. They can also see how efficient an individual driver or driver group is relative to the routes they run and stops they make.
