What is good Distance Engine for Europe

[sashkc]

Hello all,

What is the good distance/Mileage engine for Europe; we are using MileMaker for North America,

Please let me know the some of the Pros and Cons I have to look for while evaluating these engines for EU.

Thanks in advance,

Sashi

[oliver]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

As far as i know the most common engine for Europe is Map&Guide.
Advantage is, there is some people that have experience with it (eg Eddy Lowe).

Rgds
Oliver

[bob_romijn]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

Hi,

We use Map&Guide from PTV. In this case I thought it is called iNet server.
That works fine in combination with OTM.
This engine is also accepted by the major part of the carriers.

Best regards,

Bob Romijn

[sashkc]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

Thank you for the response, are there any competing products to Map & Guide's iNetServer

[chrisplough]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

We had tested with PCMiler WorldWide in G-Log QA, but I'm not aware of any clients using it, so I don't know how comparable it is to Map & Guide. Your current options for integration with OTM are:

• PCMiler
• MileMaker
• IntelliRoute (same engine as MileMaker)
• Map & Guide

Hope this helps!
--Chris

[Tony Drake]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

Do you have any experience with PCMiler coverage in EMEA? We are considering it as an option.

[nick.polites]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

I had setup PC Miler Worldwide for one client. They did experience one problem when initially testing as the distance in Europe was returning in kilometers when they were expecting miles. You can change this in the C:\windows\pcmserve.ini file by adding Units=Miles and restarting PC Miler.

Also you will need to create the following:

1) A new Geo Hierarchy named Postal/Country which contains COUNTY_CODE3 and POSTAL_CODE
(Transportation Planning and Execution à Power Data à Geography à Geo Hierarchy)

2) Create a new external distance engine called PCMILER_WORLD_POSTAL_TO_POSTAL
(Transportation Planning and Execution à Power Data à Geography à External Distance Engine)

For parameters add:
Parameter Value Country Code
PORT pcmiler.port *
SOURCE_ADDRESS_TYPE POSTAL_CODE_COUNTRY *
HOST pcmiler.host *
DEST_ADDRESS_TYPE POSTAL_CODE_COUNTRY *

In Geo Hierarchy add:

Geo Hierarchy ID Country Code
POSTAL/COUNTRY *


3) Create a new rate distance called PCMILER_WORLD
(Contract and Rate Management à Power Data à Contracts à Rate Distance)
Distance Type: Lookup
Short Distance Cutoff:0
Short Distance Factor:1.0
Long Distance Cutoff:0
Long Distance Factor:1.0
External Distance ID:PCMILER_WORLD_POSTAL_TO_POSTAL


The reason that you have to create this is because the out of box PCMiler external distance engine does not send out the country code to PC Miler and it will guess (most times incorrectly) for all of the European countries.

[Kristof Stevens]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

Is this the same kind of issue? Customer is using PC Miler Worldwide :

2 locations in Italy...Modena to Jesi

Distance returned in UI : 265.2MI

265 is the distance in “KM”, yet we assign the wrong Unit Of Measure “Mile”. The result is that we overestimate the distance with a factor 1.6.

When I click View log:

34:32.9
639272
Debug
Distance
pcmsgetdefaultregion()

[ExecuteThread: '23' for q]



pcmsgetdefaultregion()

34:32.9
639272
Debug
Distance
pcmssetdefaultregion(Europe)

[ExecuteThread: '23' for q]



pcmssetdefaultregion(Europe)
Before OTM requests for the distance, it is in the EU UOM - KM
34:32.9
639272
Debug
Distance
pcmscalcdistance2("41100,IT","60035,IT",0)
Request for distance
[ExecuteThread: '23' for q]



pcmscalcdistance2("41100,IT","60035,IT",0)

34:33.0
639272
Debug
Distance
pcmssetdefaultregion(NA)
After the distance calculation OTM changes the default region to NA. This could be when it assigns the incorrect UOM - Mile
[ExecuteThread: '23' for q]



pcmssetdefaultregion(NA)

34:33.0
639272
Debug
Distance
Adding cached result for Src LocationGid = ABC.801 Dest LocationGid = ABC.804 UniqueID = ABC.PCMILER_EU_POSTAL HashCode = -1220068239 Distance Type: LOOKUP, Distance UOM: 265.2 MI, isEstimated: false [ExecuteThread: '23' for q]

34:33.0
639272
Debug
Distance
Distance = Distance Type: LOOKUP, Distance UOM: 265.2 MI, isEstimated: false [ExecuteThread: '23' for q]

34:33.0
639272
Debug
Distance
End Rate Distance [ExecuteThread: '23' for q]

Bottom of Form

[Nilanjana]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

Do you have any experience with PCMiler Worldwide in Asia and Middle east?

[nick.polites]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

Do you have any experience with PCMiler Worldwide in Asia and Middle east?

I've used this years ago for one of our customers and you had to configure some additional parameters (such as passing country code) when the lookup from OTM to PC Miler Worldwide is made. Not sure if they added those parameters but keep that in mind when setting this up in case it doesn't work.

[Nilanjana]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

Thanks a lot for your prompt response. I have one more query. How pcmiler worldwide is useful with OTM in different regions like Europe, ASIA and Middle East?

[Nilanjana]

Re: What is good Distance Engine for Europe

I've used this years ago for one of our customers and you had to configure some additional parameters (such as passing country code) when the lookup from OTM to PC Miler Worldwide is made. Not sure if they added those parameters but keep that in mind when setting this up in case it doesn't work.

Thank you for your quick response. I have another query. How PC Miler Worldwide is useful with OTM in different regions like Europe, Asia and Middle East?