Glossary of routing terms

This page defines the terms used throughout Routing24 and these docs.

Order

An order is a single place a vehicle needs to visit, such as a delivery address, a pickup, or a service call. Orders appear on the Orders page. An order can have extra details: a time window, service time, priority, load, and tags.

Depot

A depot is the location where a vehicle starts and ends its day, usually a warehouse, store, or office. The optimizer plans routes as round trips from the depot, unless you leave a vehicle's finish depot empty for an open-ended route. A plan can have more than one depot.

Vehicle

A vehicle is a truck, van, car, or person that covers a route. Each vehicle has limits such as capacity and shift hours. The optimizer assigns orders to it. One fleet row can stand for several identical vehicles via its Available count. Vehicles are set up on the Fleet page. Add vehicles and depots describes the editor.

Route

A route is the ordered sequence of stops one vehicle drives in a day. Optimizing produces one route per vehicle used. Each route can consist of one or more trips.

Stop

A stop is one element of a route: a depot, an order, or a driver break.

Trip

A trip is one depot-to-depot loop within a route. A vehicle that returns to the depot to reload and departs again has driven two trips on one route.

Time window

A time window is the span of time in which a vehicle can serve an order, for example 9am to 12pm. The optimizer schedules visits so the vehicle reaches each order inside its window. An order can have up to four alternative windows.

Service duration

Service duration is how long a vehicle spends at a stop once it arrives, separate from driving time: unloading, signatures, or the work of a service call itself. It shifts the ETAs of every later stop on the route.

Driver break

A driver break is a mandatory rest pause the optimizer plans into a route, taken at the previous stop's location. Breaks follow a rule you pick per vehicle: the EU preset (45 minutes before exceeding 4.5 hours of driving), the US preset (a 30-minute interruption after 8 hours), or a custom rule, plus optional fixed windows such as lunch. Driver breaks are part of the Pro tier. See Driver breaks and driving-time limits.

Capacity (load)

Capacity is the most a vehicle can carry, paired with the load each order adds. The vehicle carries a delivery load from the depot to the stop. It collects a pickup load at the stop and carries it back. The optimizer keeps every route within its vehicle's capacity.

Transfer (pickup & delivery)

A transfer is a linked pair of orders: pick up at one address, deliver to another, on the same route, pickup first. Transfers cover point-to-point courier work rather than depot-based delivery. Transfers are part of the Pro tier.

Priority

Priority is a number from 1 to 1000 (default 1) that tells the optimizer which orders to keep when not everything fits. The optimizer drops higher-priority orders last.

Tags

Tags are vehicle-order compatibility labels. Only a vehicle with the tag "freezer" can serve an order that requires that tag. Tags are part of the Pro tier.

Constraint

A constraint is any real-world rule a valid route must respect: time windows, capacity, shifts, tags, transfers.

Optimization

Optimization is the search across many possible sets of routes for the most efficient one that satisfies your constraints. It decides which vehicle serves which orders, and in what sequence, to reduce total cost, time, and distance. What is Routing24? shows the same stops before and after an optimization.

Unassigned order

An unassigned order is one the optimizer cannot fit into any route, usually because a constraint cannot be met. Routing24 lists these in a red section with the reason for each and a suggestion for where the order would fit best.

ETA

ETA stands for estimated time of arrival: the time a driver is expected to reach a given stop. ETAs come from drive times, service times, and time windows. They update as a route changes.

Shared route

A shared route is a link you send a driver. The link opens the driver's route in the phone's web browser: stops in order, ETAs, and one tap to open their navigation app. The driver does not need to install an app. The driver's route view shows what the driver sees.

Next step

Plan your first route in 5 minutes walks the whole flow with an example.

FAQ

What is the difference between an order, a stop, and a trip?

An order is a single place a vehicle needs to visit. A stop is one element of a built route: a depot, an order, or a driver break. A trip is one depot-to-depot loop within a route; a vehicle that reloads at the depot and departs again has driven two trips.

What is a time window in route optimization?

A time window is the span of time in which a vehicle can serve an order, for example 9am to 12pm. The optimizer schedules visits so the vehicle reaches each order inside its window, and an order can have up to four alternative windows. Arriving early means waiting until the window opens.

What does priority do?

Priority is a number from 1 to 1000, default 1, that tells the optimizer which orders to keep when not everything fits: higher priority orders are dropped last. It is a tie-breaker under scarcity, not a guarantee: no priority value places an order that is physically impossible to serve.

What is a transfer?

A transfer is a linked pair of orders: pick up at one address and deliver to another, on the same route, pickup first. Transfers cover point-to-point courier work rather than depot-based delivery, and they are part of the Pro tier. A transfer is served whole or not at all.