Usability and accessibility will come to the fore in the vehicle routing, scheduling and network planning solutions plus digital mapping on show by MapMechanics at this summer's Logistics Event, the new name for the annual Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport exhibition, which runs at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham from 7 to 8 June.

Delegates will get their first public viewing of an enhanced release of TruckStops, the world-leading routing and scheduling system from MapMechanics. This brings a range of improvements in user interaction, display and configurability.

For instance, if an optimised journey includes a long stem mileage section and a number of calls clustered together, users can now set TruckStops display to hide stem mileage and show just the calls at a larger scale which can be much easier to view, also when a text list of calls is displayed alongside a map showing call points, the map highlights the call location automatically when the user clicks on the list.

TruckStops distance files (which hold times and distances between call points) can now store up to five times as many call points as before. TruckStops is one of the only routing and scheduling systems that can use these open, user-editable tables. In addition, the map backdrops used by TruckStops have been enhanced so that the routes stand out more clearly when calculated routes are superimposed on them, whether on screen or in print.

The show at the NEC will give visitors the chance to see how the latest version of TruckStops can help vehicle operators and drivers meet the requirements of the new Road Transport Directive An important issue in the directive is waiting time, says managing director Mary Short. TruckStops has always been strong in its ability to take account of and report waiting time in the route plans it produces

Delegates will also see how the latest developments in the GeoConcept geographic information system from MapMechanics can help them plan distribution networks more effectively. They are helped in this objective by products such as the recently-developed Service Allocator module, which can establish the nearest five bases to any target location  and crucially, can display the time and distance involved in reaching each of these.

Companies developing or using map-based applications such as vehicle tracking systems will also be attracted to the newly-introduced ability of GeoConcept Internet Server version to deliver Web-based mapping in Flash format. This provides more seamless transitions between different map views  for instance, when users pan or zoom round the map. Map views seem to dissolve from one to the next, rather than changing abruptly.

Flash mapping also opens the way for compelling new on-screen features such as map-based animations. For instance, tracking software might be able to trace the route taken by a vehicle by drawing a line as the user watches, or chart geographically-related variations in activity over time by means of graphs or images that flex and change on screen.

Many of these applications can take advantage of the range of digital map datasets available from MapMechanics, including those incorporating increasingly popular GB Speeds data, which differentiate between real-world speeds achievable at various times of day (peak, off-peak and so on) to provide realistic and achievable travel time estimates. The data is based on records captured from vehicles in daily service throughout the UK.

One of the most popular ranges of digital mapping with which MapMechanics supplies GB Speeds is NAVTEQ data, and in its latest release the NAVTEQ street-level map data itself has also been significantly enhanced. There is now more differentiation between settlements of different sizes, and contours have been included to give a better sense of the terrain. Large building outlines are now included, and an outline map of the whole of Ireland has been added to the Northern Ireland dataset, giving a better sense of context.

MapMechanics specialises in supplying NAVTEQ and other map data pre-configured to work with popular software and operating systems, further reinforcing the usability and accessibility that are the keynotes of its Logistics Event exhibits.

Website: http://www.mapmechanics.com