ZRP - ZeroRoutenPlaner - roundtrip solver / route optimization

[zrp]

ZRP is a route optimizer for routes with many stop overs.
(multi destination routing / muliple vias)

Type in start and destination plus any number of stop overs and ZRP calculates the shortest route possible. ZRP uses the GoogleMaps API to get the distances between the destinations.

Interesting for courier drivers and logistics companies is the unlimited number of waypoints. Route optimization can save time and fuel.

ZRP is a roundtrip solver if start and destination are identical.
ZRP is based on an evolutionary algorithm, the ant algorithm and simulated annealing.

Features:

-> save route as HTML
-> save route as TomTom itn file​

Version 0.99 Beta:

English:
ZRP - ZeroRoutenPlaner
Spanish:
ZRP - ZeroRoutenPlaner
French:
ZRP - ZeroRoutenPlaner
German:
http://zrp.tournament.de/index.jsp?lang=de​

Version 0.7 Beta:

ZRP - ZeroRoutenPlaner​

 

[pianoCM]

Sounds very interesting and seems to replace for what so called "Route Optimization", the question is that can it generate the output file such .itn so that we can load it into the Tomtom or just purely a planner?

 

[zrp]

the question is that can it generate the output file such .itn so that we can load it into the Tomtom or just purely a planner?

Yes, it generates itn files.
After the route is computated click "Save route:" "tomtom/itn".

 

[tukatz]

I have tried ZRP and it does appear to optimize routes with multiple waypoints. I then saved the route as a TomTom .itn file and tried to use it both in my 920 and in Google Maps via TYRE. It did not work in either. I opened a good .itn file in Notepad and the ZRP created .itn file in another Notepad session. The following is what I observed.

The ZRP created file has coordinates that are not all to the same level of precision (different numbers of digits). I don't know it that matters, but I changed them to be all the same numbers of digits as the good .itn.

The ZRP created file has no waypoint sequence numbers. Again, I don't know if that matters but I inserted them.

The ZRP created file has different characters at the end of each waypoint. I copied the characters from the good .itn and pasted them over the ones supplied by ZRP.

The ZRP created file does not have each waypoint on a separate line. Again, I don't know if that matters but I changed that as well.

With those changes made I could save the file directly onto my 920 in the itn folder and it worked.

I then tried opening it in TYRE and displaying the route in Google Maps. TYRE hung. I shut it down and relaunched it and went to Google Maps without a file open. I used the facility to add waypoints from a file and opened the revised ZRP file and selected all the waypoints. Google Maps could then calculate the route. I clicked the OK button and had TYRE save the file. From that point on TYRE worked just fine with it.

There is obviously something I have missed in changes required to the ZRP created file, but it is possible to get it to work. I hope the creator of ZRP will correct the problem as it should be a very useful tool if it is able to create a TomTom itinerary file correctly.

 

[tukatz]

I emailed the programmer and sent him two sample files. He very promptly diagnosed and fixed the problem. I am very impressed with the program and the programmer.

 

[dhn]

In this case, I'll let your other thread stay in the other forum as it does provide a link here. I'll just lock it.

By the way, thanks for your analysis and contacting the author. Your efforts will help others here. Is he 'fixing' the problem by providing an update to the program?

 

[Arno]

In this case, I'll let your other thread stay in the other forum as it does provide a link here. I'll just lock it.

By the way, thanks for your analysis and contacting the author. Your efforts will help others here. Is he 'fixing' the problem by providing an update to the program?

Maybe you should lock this one too now.

The programme is already working as it should, no need to resort to TYRE.

Patrick und Team, danke.

 

[dhn]

Yes sir!! Done...........Your wish is my command!

 

[jhansman]

Looks like a great app, but one question. When I open the initial link, the map centers on San Antonio, TX for some reason. Can I somehow configure it open in my neck of the woods? Thanks.

 

[Arno]

When I open the initial link, the map centers on San Antonio, TX for some reason..

That's funny because when I open mine my home location is smack in the center (maybe that was what I had on the map when I bookmarked the programme) although in the left margin it says
Start:
London
Destination:
Grays
Stop-overs:
Hastings;Braybrooke;Terrace;Boxley;

These are of course all locations to the east of London, UK, except for Hastings (like in the Battle of).
More interesting would be to find out whether it is Braybrooke in Essex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Leicestershire or Dorset.
Testing those locations, it doesn't seem to like to figure the route to Hasings as it keeps running an running.
If I just click on the GO in the opening screen it calculates the route to Grays and then switches to German giving information about the trip.

When I originally tried it in the greater Toronto area with five locations it did a very good job.
To test I just entered
Start: Toronto, ON
Destination: Albany, NY
Stop-overs: Prescott, ON; Tupper Lake, NY; Lake Placid, NY;
and it calculated the correct way with reasonably fast processing time.

Saving it to the device as an itn will eliminate the need to follow my previous habit of putting town centers in a custom POI and call up the next destination just before I get to this town.

Still weird that it switches to German when it shows the route. Clicking on en just resets the screen.

Anyone else notices odd behaviour like that?

 

[gatorguy]

I tried the software earlier today with 8 destinations in Central Florida plus two about 80 miles away. It never did complete the route computation even letting it run for 3 or 4 minutes. Counted down to zero, then started posting negative times to completion. I did see a "second language" thrown in there (can't remember which), but figured that was to be expected with the European origin of the software. i wasn't impressed.

 

[Arno]

To test I just entered
Start: Toronto, ON
Destination: Albany, NY
Stop-overs: Prescott, ON; Tupper Lake, NY; Lake Placid, NY;
and it calculated the correct way with reasonably fast processing time.

Saving it to the device as an itn will eliminate the need to follow my previous habit of putting town centers in a custom POI and call up the next destination just before I get to this town.

First line just meant just now, not when I made a Toronto area test before.

It appears that earlier today, just like then, I only looked at the route shown in the software.
After gatorguy's post I decided to run the itinerary in Demo mode and it failed.
It showed the correctly numbered waypoints

View attachment 2722

but then, after completing the calculations, it displayed no route found

View attachment 2723

I opened the file with Notepad and saw a couple of quotation marks on the last line (below the finish line, ending with |2| and deleted them.
Double clicked on the itn file, opened it and it showed properly with TYRE

View attachment 2724

Tried to run it in Demo mode and got the same no route found as before.

Opened it with Notepad and compared it to other itineraries and noted that some started out with a 0 (zero) and others with a 1 (one). I changed the 0 for the Start to 1, tried again and the Demo works.

To confirm all of the above I made another short local 2 waypoints itinerary.
Looking at the file made by ZRP-Routenoptimierung I get everything on one line with a square box symbol as the last item per instruction.
Opening it with TYRE and saving it I again get the normal one line per instruction with a double quotation mark in a line below the Finish instruction |2|.

BOTH ran without a hitch in Demo mode.

Having tried it over and over I am a little discouraged as I could not find out why it wouldn't work on the Albany test.

In spite of my normal lapel button I will make an exception this time

View attachment 2725

and will accept advice gracefully
Arno

 

[dhn]

Arno, I thought I saw where you could contact the author by email. Was I mistaken?

 

[Arno]

Smack in the middle of the screen [contact/donations]
But I spent about two hour in total on that and will have to rephrase it, but not tonight.
It is time to go downstairs and sample (a few times) that Italian product that is not allowed to marketed under the name of the famous, but overrated products from the Provence Charante.
Cheers,
(I really mean it!)

 

[Arno]

Servers were down first thing this morning and still are.
I am supposed to get a notification when they will be up again.

When it works the way it is intended I like it better for itineraries than TYRE.
I do like TYRE but I use it mostly to rename custom POIs to display in the list the way I want it.

 

[dhn]

Arno, you realize you are now my 'go to' guy for anything TYRE related that a member may have...

As a result, your membership here is now FREE!

 

[Arno]

Arno, you realize you are now my 'go to' guy for anything TYRE related that a member may have...

No hablo ingles, se?or!

SOL for you m'lad.
Here are some clips from the past although I could not find an earlier blow-by-blow instruction from about July/August 2008.

To overcome wrong locations for proper street addresses:

The easiest way is to make it a new POI and pick a near intersection. Then open Tyre > Edit > Display in Google maps. Click on [ Satellite ] and drag the POI to the exact spot you want it to be. Save POI. Copy to TomTom.

Sorting within a POI category is by distance from current location.
A TomTom generated POI may have the street address so long that the town name is not visible and the street name may not have any specific meaning.

I do not know if the XL IQ V3 has the ability to make custom POI categories. If yes, make one for this trip and make a POI for every conceivable destination. Use Tyre to give the destinations memorable names in the line of the street address as it keeps the coordinates separate from the written address.

I type the name and then five spaces so that the names jump out in the list.
It is much easier to look for Uncle Henry then to find his address at 10429 Central Blvd if you normally don't use his street address. Or, Guggenheim; CN Tower; Super Dome; Fisherman's Wharf, etc.

The following will become much better once we will be able to use ZRP-Routenoptimierung as intended

I find it so much easier to just enter the next "Navigate to .." than playing around with itineraries. This even more so as I will deviate from a planned route if scenery looks better and do not have to meet a schedule.

 

[Arno]

Looks as if we have some good news.
I have been in touch with Patrick and after his solving problems with their Server he made alterations to the programme.
The problem of his English language demo page has not been solved. To date he hasn't found what causes the instruction count running into negative integers and carrying on.
I found that problem could be easily overcome by adding the name of the county, East Essex in this case.

This should not matter for North Americans as most of us doing it properly anyway by adding the two letter code of the Province/State.

I tried quite a few routes over here, including the one to Albany with the TomTom screen print "No route found".
No problems with any of them and all without any manipulation; a straight save to the device via the [tomtom/itn] link.

My first test this evening threw me a bit. I picked Toronto, ON a couple of the northern suburbs and Toronto again. ZRP - Routenoptimierung (=Google maps) came back with 1h 47min. TomTom Itinerary planing with IQ fastest routes came up with 1h 59min and a much longer route around the center (which I too would have picked by myself).
What threw me even more was when I went for that route in Demo, it started at my house to get to Downtown first, after all it was the starting point of the selected route.

I tried the planner in all four languages and no matter what, the time and distance are indicated below the map in German only.

Gesamtstrecke: 1.121 km = Total Distance
Zeit: 10 Stunden, 48 Minuten = Time in Hours and Minutes



gatorguy, please try to select the eight location route on which you had to give up.
Maybe one of the locations causes the same problem as the "Hastings" one in the UK.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Arno

 

[mehlj]

Zrp

Hi.

I have tried the software and altough it is not working well I must admit that it can be a fantastic piece of kit.I would solve a lot of my problems.Do we have any news on updates or progress as to the functionality of the programme.I would love to get involved in any way if it will speed up the process .Essentially I need software that can optimize multiple stops and transfer that to my tom tom.This software does just that, now we just need to sort out a few "kinks".

 

[Arno]

I have tried the software and altough it is not working well

Can you elaborate on that one a bit.
What did you do and what went wrong?

Do we have any news on updates or progress as to the functionality of the programme.I would love to get involved in any way if it will speed up the process .Essentially I need software that can optimize multiple stops and transfer that to my tom tom.This software does just that, now we just need to sort out a few "kinks".

I have not received any further feed back from them.
I am starting to wonder if it was just an exercise for them as they not replied to my asking if they were planing to let the results show in the language which was selected for the input.

I don't make ITNs in general, find individual POIs more suitable to my mode.
In combination with IQ routes it would have be a great tool for me when I had a sales territory.