Routing your tickets.

[Goldenboy]

How does everyone route their tickets? I got a real nice map of my area from the city hall and took it to a local office shop and had it laminated. I use a dry erase marker and dot all my tickets. Each day I use a different color so I can keep track of the start dates. This seems to work great for me but I know everyone does things differently.

If I have under 25-30 tickets I just route them off the top of my head but any more tickets than that I dot them out. It just makes it easier. If I get called off my route to an emergency I can just look at the dots on my map and route myself from where my emergency was.

[beyond help]

streets and trips:rolleyes:

[Goldenboy]

streets and trips:rolleyes:

Do you enter every address in manually? I've been averaging around 100 tickets a day. I can't even imagine typing in all them addresses into the computer.

If I'm working in an area I don't know I use the map routing program our company provides for us. The problem with the program is that if the ticket is on a long street that runs the lengh of the city the dot on the map can be 5 miles away from where the job actually is on the road.

[beyond help]

I can route about 10 tix every minute. I'm in an old area where the addresses all exist. I used to do the same thing you did, but was told I had to use streets and trips. I would get written up if I didn't

[big boots mcghee]

I can route about 10 tix every minute. I'm in an old area where the addresses all exist. I used to do the same thing you did, but was told I had to use streets and trips. I would get written up if I didn't

What was their logic behind writing you up for not using streets and trips? Had you previously botched up a route or something? Out here they brief new techs on how to route themselves but pretty much let everyone handle their own route in whatever manner best suits them individually. If they were to write you up for something so small I'd hate to see the disciplinary actions taken for something serious.

[sir_marks_alot]

In wyoming about half of the streets are not in streets and trips ... makes it really hard for people from out of town to lend a hand so I have some laminated maps like goldie but people come to help and don't return them to me so i am almost out ....

[Mr Blunderbuss]

When I first started at SM&P I would spend about an hour marking everything out on the Delorme map program. After I became familiar with my area I stopped using it. The utility I'm with now has Map Point tied in with FAAR. But it's accuracy depends on how accurate they are at DHL.

[Mr Blunderbuss]

The problem with the program is that if the ticket is on a long street that runs the lengh of the city the dot on the map can be 5 miles away from where the job actually is on the road.

I think that's a DHL problem. We have a similar routing system as you do and the map label does not match where the actual address is.

[sprayandpray]

Here in my own area I use a Mapsco(city st guide) but in Ok they have a system set thru Streets and Trips that shows a separate list of all tickets with the addresses flagged on a map and numbered in an order that makes most sense to the computer. You don't have to follow it but when you're just there for the weekend it's a helpful tool.

[beyond help]

What was their logic behind writing you up for not using streets and trips? Had you previously botched up a route or something? Out here they brief new techs on how to route themselves but pretty much let everyone handle their own route in whatever manner best suits them individually. If they were to write you up for something so small I'd hate to see the disciplinary actions taken for something serious.I pissed off the DM. So he had it in for me for quite a while. I would get written up for just about anything. I didn't botch any route. Just had a botched DM (no longer employed)

[yahoo]

streets and trips also ...........can route 60-100 tickets in about an hour whether from memory or using the address router or using the lat. and long. have to do this every time i go out of town

[TBONE]

Most of my area is congested where you have several tickets in a cluster near each other rarley do I have to look at a map unless I go to another are I am not familiar with sadly I have worked every are we have so I dont need much for a map these days :ylsuper:

[USIC1]

I routed my tickets so well I ended up back at the house-

Ok so it s a little earlier than I wanted...


Maybe I ll do a drive by at Wallys or somethin'...

:p

[AULupstate]

Streets & Trips, Garmin and paper maps. Last resort ask a cop.

[yahoo]

Streets & Trips, Garmin and paper maps. Last resort ask a cop.

good one dude!!!!:yahoo:

[gypsygirl]

Delorme & gps... will use lat & long if provided...

[yahoo]

got to get streets and trips gypsy....:yahoo:

[frostypeters]

Streets & Trips. If I have big counts like 100+ then sometimes I'll divide & sort by grids I route maybe half & half.

[TBONE]

Streets and trips has been wounderful we are supposed to be getting the ticket management system that SM&P that has maping built in sounds like it might be cool you that use it how do you like it?

[Goldenboy]

Streets and trips has been wounderful we are supposed to be getting the ticket management system that SM&P that has maping built in sounds like it might be cool you that use it how do you like it?

The mapping program is great for the most part. I don't use it in my own area because it's just easier the way I do it. When I'm in an unfamiliar area I use it. The only problem is when you have a ticket on a really long street or highway, if the caller didn't give good coordinates it can show the "dot" miles away from where it actually is. It will be on the right street just way far away from where it actually is. For the most part it is a great idea and great format. You can zoom in and out and change the map from a normal map to a hybrid map that is pretty much an overlay of your stops on a google earth type map.

[TBONE]

Cool I think we are supposed to get it by September so we will see how it goes got to be better than Translore :Crash:

[cablemagne]

I always used strets and trips.lots of errors.In 2002 the Jax area still did not have I-10 on it.The streets that used to go straight through were now noncontinuos streets.Routing is nice in theory but has anyone successfully ran their route that way.Most days just back and forth trying to put out fires.

[Goldenboy]

Routing is nice in theory but has anyone successfully ran their route that way.Most days just back and forth trying to put out fires.


This is the reason I dot all my tickets on a laminated map and they are color coded by start date. If I get called off my route I just restart a different route by looking at the map.