(Requires an update to your PC*Miler API key. Contact your account representative or our support team to learn more.)


Customers using Appian DirectRoute, Daily Planner, and Resource Calendar can now customize route calculations with company specific road preferences and site-specific route paths. This unique mapping content enhances ETA, distance, and time-window calculations. It also helps you plan efficient routes that send drivers to the exact location needed for a delivery or a pick-up. 


ContentTools and Appian

Custom routing and location content is created and managed in Trimble's ContentTools web tool and automatically synced with your Appian applications. Appian currently supports the following types of ContentTools data: 


Route Modifiers 

(DirectRoute 24.2 or later, Daily Planner, and Appian Resource Calendar)


Route Modifiers are road segments you want your vehicles to Avoid or Favor. They help shape the route path our applications generate.

  • Avoids and Favors: An avoided road segment is effectively treated as if it were closed unless no other road can be used for the route or if the total trip distance would be unacceptably inefficient.  A favored road segment will be used in a route unless it is not practical to do so. Avoids and Favors are organized into single or multiple Route Modifier sets. In Daily Planner and Resource Calendar, you can choose which sets you want to apply to a particular route in Vehicle and Navigation Settings. In DirectRoute, all of your Route Modifier sets apply to all routes.
  • Road Closures: Closures have the same impact on route calculations as avoids, but are meant to be temporary to account for things such as short-term construction, public events that cause closures, and seasonal closures. They are kept in a single Closures set. In Daily Planner and Resource Calendar, you can choose whether to apply Closures to a particular route in Vehicle and Navigation Settings. In DirectRoute, the Closures set applies to all routes.


Avoid Example

A route path in Appian Daily Planner



The same route after an avoid is created on Route 679 (Georges Rd) in ContentTools to shape the route. 


Sites 

(Daily Planner and Resource Calendar only)


A Site is a geofence drawn on the map around a custom Place. With this polygon in place, you can add specific entrances and exits (Gates) to the location for precise last-mile routing. You can also specify a Gate Path a vehicle should take when approaching the Site and provide notes about the Site the driver can read in CoPilot as they approach the entry gate.


Sites are often created around areas such as warehouses, shopping malls and business parks to include site-specific details for generating accurate, safe and efficient deliveries, down to the final mile. In Daily Planner and Resource Calendar, Sites are applied to route path calculations when you select Use Sites in Vehicle and Navigation Settings.


Site Example

Routing with a Site created in ContentTools (above) takes you through the location’s proper truck entrance and exit.


Routing without a Site takes you to a street address.


Learn more about ContentTools

Read our ContentTools User Guide or complete our video training course about how to create custom location content.


Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get access to ContentTools? 

Your PC*Miler API key needs to be updated before you can access ContentTools. Please reach out to your account representative or our support team to learn more. You will also need a Trimble ID to access ContentTools. Learn more about how to create a Trimble ID. After the API key is set up, close and reopen DirectRoute or log out and log back in to Daily Planner and Resource Calendar to sync ContentTools data.


I have multiple Appian applications. Will custom content be the same in all of them?

Yes, as long as the API key is the same in both places, the same set of avoids and favors will be available in both places. However:

  • Currently, Daily Planner and Resource Calendar only support one PC*Miler API key. 
  • If multiple users in an organization all have their own API key for PC*Miler in DirectRoute, and create different custom content attached to those keys, only one set will be available in Daily Planner or Resource Calendar.


Will my custom content also work with CoPilot?

Yes, as long as CoPilot is provisioned on the same account as the API key, then ContentTools avoids/favors will be used in the mobile navigation app as well. The main difference is Route Modifier sets need to be assigned to groups of vehicles or drivers in Account Manager in order to be used in CoPilot. 


Is there a cost for Content Tools? 

No, ContentTools is provided at no additional charge.