In this issue, we’ll look at the differences between navigating a car and navigating a truck and how Electric Compass’s Enterprise Navigator TRUCK can provide safer and more efficient truck routing.

There are usually problems when trucks go where they’re not supposed to be. From penalties for driving on restricted roads to the danger and costs of a high truck meeting a low overpass, the costs can be extreme in a monetary, productivity and physical sense.

Never use a navigation solution designed for cars with a tractor trailer or other large commercial vehicle. Trucks and Cars require different approaches to route creation and using the wrong solution with a larger commercial vehicle creates a dangerous and potentially costly situation.

Navigating a car or van is complex enough. The GPS navigation solution determines a route, say from your office to your home, through a “cost” model where each road segment along the way has an “impedance” value that determines whether it is included in the route. The level of impedance is determined by road hierarchy (divided highways down to back roads), road connectivity (how do the roads connect to each other along the route) and other basic provisions (such as one-way streets, turn restrictions, etc…). A relatively straight run along a highway would have a lower “cost” than a potentially shorter path along local streets with numerous turns along the way.  To create a route, the navigation engine processes the “cost” of the segments in terms of impedance to resolve the least cost path from the origin to the destination. This least-cost path is then presented to the driver through the navigation software’s user interface as a map and the sequential audible instructions of the route.

But cars are very different from trucks and other commercial vehicles. They fit under low bridges and have virtually no road usage restrictions. On the other hand, routing trucks is a much more complex process with many additional variables in play – truck configuration, size (in multiple dimensions), and even the type of load being carried.

To effectively create routes for trucks the navigation solution needs access to truck-specific map data (such as Tele Atlas Logistics) and then needs to incorporate multiple cost models based on specific truck dimensions, legal restrictions and/or the cargo being carried. These restrictions result in a different “shortest path” from origin to destination for a truck than for a car.

Factors that need to be addressed in truck routing fall into three broad categories:

• Physical Restrictions based on interplay of vehicle dimensions and physical infrastructure (such as underpass height, road width, vehicle length, bridge capacity, etc…). If these restrictions are ignored, vehicle and/or infrastructure damage can occur, in addition to violations.
• Provisional Restrictions, such as roads where commercial vehicles are not allowed by law, rather than because of physical restrictions. Failure to observe these restrictions can result in a non-compliance violation and associated fines.
• Hazardous Materials Restrictions are specific materials banned from certain bridges, tunnels and other locations such as flammable, volatile, radioactive and caustic material and their individual category classifications.

A navigation solution for trucks and commercial vehicles needs to take these additional components into account when creating a route.  But even then, drivers must remain vigilant and look for road signs and other warnings to avoid problems. GPS navigation solutions provide a great guide and can increase productivity and cut costs, but they should never overrule the driver’s observations and common sense.

Now that we’ve examined some of the issues involved in routing trucks with a GPS navigation solution, I’ve included information below on Electric Compass’s Enterprise Navigator TRUCK product that is designed to meet the challenges of commercial truck navigation.

Mike Forbes
Managing Director
Electric Compass
michael.forbes@electriccompass.com