Run the optimizerCopy link
The Optimize page is where a plan turns into routes. Press Optimize: Routing24 computes the best assignment of orders to vehicles and the best visiting order for each, and the result appears as route cards and colored lines on the map.
What a run needsCopy link
The only hard requirement: at least two orders and one vehicle type. Press Optimize with less and the run refuses with exactly that message. Add or import orders on the Orders page and vehicles on the Fleet page.
Everything else is optional. Orders without time windows, vehicles without costs, a single depot: all fine for a first run.
What happens when you press OptimizeCopy link
- Routing24 fetches a travel-time and distance matrix for your locations from its servers. This is the only network step.
- The solver runs entirely in your browser, spread across several background workers. Closing the tab ends the run.
- The metrics strip shows TIME LEFT counting down.
The time budget is picked automatically from the size of your plan: a plan with around 10 stops solves in about 3 seconds, around 1000 stops takes about 5 minutes, and around 2000 stops about 15 minutes. See Optimization tips for large datasets for what to expect at the high end.
To stop a run early, press Cancel (the Optimize button turns into it while solving) and confirm "Are you sure to stop optimization?".
No solver settingsCopy link
There is no objective picker, no balance slider, no time-limit field. What "best" means is defined by your data, above all by each vehicle's costs: fixed cost, cost per kilometer or mile, per hour, per stop, and overtime. The solver minimizes the total cost of the plan while respecting your constraints.
You steer the optimizer by editing the plan, not a settings panel. Fewer vehicles used: raise the fixed cost. Shorter driving: raise the distance cost. Tighter days: set shifts. See Vehicle costs and the COST metric.
Every trade-off (an extra van vs. a longer route, overtime vs. an unserved stop) is settled by the costs in your plan.
The sync badgesCopy link
Next to the optimization name:
- IN SYNC: the solution matches the current input data.
- NOT SYNC: you changed orders, depots, or vehicles after the solve. The routes on screen were computed from older data. The tooltip reads: restart your optimization to see up-to-date results.
- EDITED: you moved stops by hand after the solve, with the date of the last manual edit. See Edit routes by hand.
NOT SYNC blocks nothing: the stale solution can still be read, edited, and exported.
Running it againCopy link
Pressing Optimize again starts a fresh solve from the current input data. The new solution replaces the old one entirely.
There is no lock or pin on a stop or route. If you rearranged stops by hand, a full re-run discards that work and builds routes from scratch. Export the current solution first if you need to keep it, or use the per-route Optimize stop order action to re-optimize a single route without touching the rest.
The working order: get the inputs right, optimize, then fine-tune by hand last, right before you export or share routes.