Each trip has options that affect the way PC*MILER Connect routes trucks over the highway network as well as the appearance of reports. For example, the engine can reorder all your stops in the optimal order, or it can treat the first stop as the hub and calculate the miles from the hub to each stop.


Some basic options that are modifiable via API function calls:

  • Route Type. The engine uses six different algorithms to calculate a route: the most Practical route, the Shortest route, a route that avoids tolls, a route that favors National Network highways and 53-Foot Trailer routing, a Personally Owned Vehicle (POV) automobile route, or an “Air” route that travels in a straight line. (The Air route is unique to PC*MILER Connect.) Toll-Discouraged and State + National Network routes are based on Practical rather than Shortest miles. 


  • Units. Distances can be reported either in miles or kilometers. By default, distances are returned in tenths of miles/kilometers.To get distances in hundredths or thousandths, either use PCMSSetNumMilesDecimals, change this setting in the PC*MILER user interface, or add a line to the [Options] section of the PCMSERVE.INI file. Times are always reported in minutes, except for the PCMSRouteMatrix group of functions and PCMSGetSegment functions which return times in thousandths of hours.


  • Toll Calculations (available only if the Tolls add-on module is installed). Accurate, up-to-date U.S. and Canadian tolls for each leg of a trip can be calculated, with or without discount programs applied.


  • Highway Only vs. Streets Mode. By default,  PC*MILER Connect generates Highway Only routing. If the Streets add-on is licensed and installed, routes can be generated to street addresses using local streets. Local street routing can be enabled using PCMSSetRouteLevel or by editing the PCMSERVE.INI file.


  • Optimized Routes. PC*MILER Connect can re-order stops into the optimal driving order. Users can choose whether the destination stop is also fixed (resequencing only the stop-offs), or whether to resequence all stops except the origin. 


  • Borders. Some trips near international borders may cross over a border and then turn back to the originating country. You can force PC*MILER Connect to keep the route within the original country by using closed borders.


  • Vehicle type. The vehicle type can be set through the use of route profiles created in PC*MILER.


  • Hub mode. The engine can also treat the trip’s origin as a hub and generate distances to all the other stops in the list. This is useful for solving distribution problems with warehouses.


  • State order. State summary reports list all states/countries through which the route travels in alphabetical or driving order.