Trips in the schedule are now clickable.
Clicking on them will take you to the map view of the relevant schedule day, where the corresponding trip is highlighted.
Tip: To factor the current traffic situation into the proposed trip, click the “Current traffic” button in the upper right corner.
Previously, saved searches could be created and deleted. As of this update, there are extensive possibilities for managing searches.
To overwrite an existing saved search, first run the new search (e.g. using extended search), then go to the menu of saved searches and click the Save icon to the right of the search you wish to overwrite.
Clicking on Manage Searches opens the following window:
The customization options are as follows:
As an administrator, you also have the same options for company-wide saved searches. To do this, click on “Manage searches company-wide.”
This update is intended for administrators and supervisors.
When you open the “Reports” main menu in the workspace of the company or a user group, the reports from the corresponding user accounts are loaded and displayed in a common list.
The features you are already familiar with from the user workspace, e.g. quick search, extended search, or saved searches, are available for searching or filtering reports.
Note: The reports list displays up to the first 3,000 entries. If the required reports do not appear in the list, use the search or sort function as necessary.
Reports cannot be opened or edited directly in the global reports list. However, by using the context menu of a row, you can quickly access the relevant user’s workspace.
Like the customer list, the reports list has a selection mode and a mass deletion feature. You can find these by scrolling to the end of the list.
In company accounts users only see these features if they have “mass data deletion” permissions.
Example of use: To delete old reports, run an extended search, e.g. “Start before 1.1.2020,” then spot-check the reports list to confirm whether the filtering is correct, and whether you really wish to delete these reports. If so, below the list, click “Delete all X.”
Warning: Proceed with caution when mass deleting reports. Unlike customers, reports are permanently deleted rather than moved to the recycle bin. Tip: Export reports before deleting them in portatour®.
Today we have updated the map data and traffic flow data on our servers.
Changes in the road network and driving speeds may affect driving times between customers, so we recalculated them for you in portatour®. Some users might notice the change when updating the schedule next time.
In addition, when displaying maps in portatour®, the loading times might take a little longer since the map details need to be downloaded to your device again.
This update is one of the most comprehensive in the history of portatour®, with new features that many users have been waiting for.
To read details about the new features, scroll down or use the following links:
We wish you much success with using the new features and are looking forward to your feedback at feedback@portatour.com.
To display the current traffic on the map, proceed as follows:
The current traffic situation will now update automatically every minute until you click the button again to turn off the traffic display or exit the map.
Are you interested in what effect the current traffic situation has on the travel times in your schedule? That information is now available in portatour®.
Open your schedule and click the Current Traffic button at the top (or “More > Current Traffic” on small devices).
For each trip in the day displayed, the travel time is calculated considering the current traffic situation and the time difference with regard to the planned travel time is shown:
Note that this represents a snapshot. The further the journey is in the future, the less informative the current traffic is for it.
If the additional time required is already expected on your next drive, we recommend updating the schedule to take current traffic into account.
Are you interested in what effect the current traffic situation has on the specific routes in your schedule? That information is also now available in portatour®.
Open your schedule and click the Map button at the top (or click “More > Map” for small devices). You will now see the map with the planned driving routes of the selected day.
Now additionally click on the “Current traffic” header with the car symbol in the upper right corner. For each journey of the day displayed, portatour® checks whether there would be a faster alternative route when taking the current traffic situation into account. If so, it will be displayed in blue, while the originally planned journey is dashed.
When you click a route on the map, you will see the time difference from the originally planned travel time in the bar at the bottom.
By default, portatour® uses a traffic forecast based on historical traffic flow data for route planning.
With this new feature, if desired, the current traffic situation can now also be included in the schedule calculation the first trip, provided that it starts within the next 15 minutes.
Proceed as follows:
Taking the current traffic situation into account not only has an impact on the forecasted travel time, but also affects the automatic selection of the first customer in the schedule. Customers for whom there is a loss of time on the driving route, despite the consideration of alternative routes, are less likely to be scheduled as the first visit.
Updating a schedule takes longer when taking current traffic into account due to the increased calculation effort. Depending on the number of customers, up to 5 seconds more may be required.
You can see that current traffic has been taken into account in the schedule by means of the additional text in the line of the first trip:
If you do not wish to be asked whether portatour® should take the current traffic into account every time the schedule is updated, configure it accordingly in the schedule’s Scheduling Parameters:
The current traffic situation is always a snapshot that is subject to change at short notice. Think of a traffic jam that dissipates after an hour.
Or if you calculate a schedule on a Sunday that does not start until Monday, then it does not make sense to use the current traffic pattern of low-traffic Sunday for the travel time forecast for high-traffic Monday.
For trips in the schedule that are further in the future, it makes more sense to forecast traffic based on historical traffic flow data as before.
No. Instead, use the Current traffic button (or on small devices, click “More > Current Traffic”) above the schedule. This will quickly tell you if there are any unexpected delays for the planned trip. Only if these delays are no longer acceptable to you, update the schedule to potentially have other customers suggested.
If you’re traveling in a region where traffic is hardly a factor or is mostly constant, turning off this new feature will speed up schedule calculation.
On all pages, the buttons that were previously in the function bar at the bottom of the page have been moved to the top function bar. This has the advantage of now having only one function bar, so it is no longer necessary to scroll down.
Usually, rarely used functions are grouped under the righthand button More. Likewise, on narrow smartphones, some functions are moved under More for space reasons.
Example schedule
Click More.
The menus have been modernized for better readability. See the following before/after comparison:
The navigation app “Petal Maps”, which is mainly used on Huawei smartphones, is now directly supported by portatour®. If you have this app installed on your smartphone and want to start it automatically when you click Navigation, proceed as follows:
When you display newly calculated schedules on the map, the actual driving routes are now displayed by default instead of simplified beelines.
The cogwheel button at the top right of the map still allows switching between driving routes and beelines.