Add, edit, arrange, and delete routing modes

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Add, edit, arrange, and delete routing modes

You can define routing modes that take into consideration the size, weight, and maneuverability of the different vehicles in your department. This can be very useful in areas with low bridges, older roads, narrow bridges and roads, tight intersections, and so forth, particularly when sending out heavy or large vehicles.

Identify and outline your needs before adjusting routing modes.

Before working with routing modes and calculations, you need to do the following.

Make a list of the different types of vehicles in your department, and what their dimensions are.
Sort the vehicles into groups of similar size and weight. You do not necessarily need separate modes for every apparatus in the department.
Consider the types of travel restrictions the vehicles in your fleet are subject to.
Consider the different kinds of scenarios that might influence route calculations. Each vehicle type does require a mode for each type of scenario.

Example: The following assumptions were used to design the mode templates that are installed by default with FH Mobile Response.

Vehicle types

Cars
- Sport utility vehicles (SUVs)
- Type II ambulances
- Pick-up chassis apparatus
Trucks
- Type I and III ambulances
- Command support
- Heavy rescue
Heavy trucks
- Aerial tower trucks
- Ladder trucks
- Tanker trucks

Routing modes

Response car
- No size restrictions
- Emergency routing allowed
Normal car
- No size restrictions
- Routes obey traffic laws
Response truck
- Set height, weight, and width
- Obey restrictions
- Emergency routing allowed
Normal truck
- Set height, weight, and width
- Obey restrictions
- routes obey traffic laws
Response, heavy truck
- Set height, weight, and width
- Obey restrictions
- Emergency routing allowed
Normal, heavy truck
- Set height, weight, and width
- Obey restrictions
- Routes obey traffic laws

Each mode can be set with one or more parameters. These parameters are a group of settings that govern route calculation results. Since there is often more than one way to get from point A to point B, each parameter offers another choice of route.

It is prudent to set up complimentary route styles. While a direct route on surface streets may cover fewer miles, a longer path on the highway could get you there in less time.

Choose Go → Config→ Options.

The Options dialog box appears, displaying the Server tab.

Click the Route Calculation tab.

Basic

Premium

The list on the right contains all the modes configured on your computer.

Tip: If you have FH Mobile Response Premium or Command Post, you can later access the top three modes defined on the Route Calculation tab through Route → Routing Mode → mode name.

Note: Only the top three routing modes appear in the menu. You can arrange the order of the modes on the Route Calculation tab to keep the most common ones in the top three positions.

If the list on the tab is blank, you can create and maintain a list of routing modes.

Do any of the following.

Add a new routing mode

On the right side of the tab, near the bottom, click Add.

The Edit: New Routing Mode dialog box appears.
In Mode ID, type a short code for the routing mode you want to define.

Example: RHT
In Label For Display, type a more descriptive name for the routing mode you are adding.

Example: Response, Heavy Truck

In the upper right corner of the dialog box, click either Standard or Advanced

If you clicked Standard, on the right side of the dialog box, the Config Type menu appears; if you clicked Advanced, the Routes Calculated Per Mode list appears instead.

Standard

Advanced

Depending on whether you selected Standard or Advanced, do one of the following.

Advanced

This option lets you add, edit, copy, arrange, and delete custom routing modes.

Do any of the following to specify custom routing modes.

Add a custom routing mode

On the right side of the tab, near the bottom, click Add.

The Edit Route Calculation Parameters dialog box appears.
In Label For Routing Parameters Option, type a name that describes the intent of the particular route.

Note: A best practice is to include the impedance criteria in the parameter's name.

Example: Travel Time
Under Impedance Criteria, select an option that defines the route's main priority.
- Travel Time: This criteria produces the fastest route, taking into account historical (not real-time) traffic data.
  
  Historic traffic patterns are broken down into one-hour time blocks to help estimate how long the trip will take, based on time of day.
  
  Example: The same path that takes 45 minutes during 8 a.m. rush hour could take 15 minutes late at night, when there is typically no traffic on the road.
- Minutes: This criteria produces the fastest route, using historic traffic data averaged over 24 hours.
  
  Note: Time of day is not considered in estimating the time required to drive the route.
- Miles: This criteria produces the shortest distance route, in miles.
- Kilometers: This criteria produces the shortest distance route, in kilometers.

Under Restrict U-Turns To, select the option that controls whether U-turns will be allowed in the route.

Note: This selection applies only to streets that are not divided by a median.

For modes designed for highly maneuverable vehicles such as cars, you may want to allow back-tracking. For modes designed for vehicles with limited turning mobility, you may want to prohibit U-turns. For vehicles with moderate maneuverability, you may want to set a pair of parameters—one allowing U-turns and one prohibiting U-turns.

To do this	Do this
Return only routes with U-turns when a dead end is encountered	Choose Dead Ends Only.
Return routes allowing U-turns	Choose Allow Back track.
Return only routes that exclude U-turns	Choose No Back Track.

Under Hierarchy Range, in Dist. before Use Hierarchy (Miles), type the distance the route will ignore road hierarchy, and will use all available streets.

Roads are classified into a hierarchy of primary roads (highways), secondary roads (surface streets), and so forth. You can define the hierarchy range for "long distance" travel. For long distance travel, computing a complex route on secondary roads is not necessary when a primary road is available within a reasonable distance.

By default, FH Mobile Response uses one algorithm to determine routes that are under 25 miles long (most in-town routes), and uses a different algorithm for routes over 25 miles long. The short-route algorithm performs an exhaustive search of all possible routes between points, and then selects the best route.

The algorithm for routes over 25 miles is a hierarchical routing algorithm, not an exhaustive search. In map data, all roads have a set number of turns (transitions), and have numeric values assigned to them, based on the type of road (interstate, highway, gravel road, dirt road, and so forth) and the speed limit.

The hierarchical algorithm favors short distances and fast roads such as interstates and highways, which are assigned low value numbers. You can adjust the road values and number of turns (transitions) to override the default settings the algorithm uses when calculating the route, to give the hierarchy a preference for certain road types.
Under Restriction Settings, from the Available Restrictions list, select an option, then click Apply Restriction.

The selection you chose appears in the Applied Restrictions list, and is considered when using the routing mode.

Note: Most of the available restrictions are not applicable to emergency response routing, and can be ignored.

The most important restrictions you should consider are the following.
- Driving an Emergency Vehicle
  
  This restriction allows the routing calculation to consider route possibilities that include going the wrong way on a one-way street.
- Height Restriction
- Weight Restriction
- Width Restriction
- Length Restriction
  
  This restriction applies to legal road restrictions, not necessarily physical barriers.
- Avoid Ferries
From Applied Restrictions, select each restriction.

To the right, under Restriction Parameters, fields relevant to the selected restriction appear.

Under Restriction Parameters, assign a specific numerical value from the list below for the selected restriction.

Numerical value	Means	Notes
`-1`	Prohibit	Travel on associated network elements is completely prohibited. This is the most common restriction usage. Use this for the height, length, width, and weight restrictions.
`5`	Avoid: High	It is very unlikely the solver will use network elements associated with the restriction.
`2`	Avoid: Medium	It is unlikely the solver will use network elements associated with the restriction.
`1.3`	Avoid: Low	It is somewhat unlikely the solver will use network elements associated with the restriction.
`0.8`	Prefer: Low	It is somewhat likely the solver will use network elements associated with the restriction.
`0.5`	Prefer: Medium	It is likely the solver will use network elements associated with the restriction.
`0.2`	Prefer: High	It is very likely the solver will use network elements associated with the restriction.

For more a detailed discussion of restrictions and parameters, see the ArcGIS help from the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI).

For the most important restrictions you need to consider, use the following values.

Driving an Emergency Vehicle

Set this restriction to 1.3 (Avoid: Low).
Height Restriction, Weight Restriction, and Width Restriction

Set maximum vehicle dimensions for any vehicles larger than a sport utility vehicle (SUV) or van.

Because these dimensions will never change, specify -1 (Prohibit).
Length Restriction

This restriction applies to legal road restrictions, not necessarily physical barriers as with Height Restriction, Weight Restriction, and Width Restriction.

Note: It may be entirely appropriate to route a long apparatus to an incident located on a restricted road, so remove this restriction from any "response" mode.

Apply the restriction for normal modes, to return routes that adhere to legal length restrictions.
Avoid Ferries

Set to -1 (Prohibit), to exclude ferry travel sections in route results.

(If necessary) From Applied Restrictions, select a restriction that should not apply to the parameter, and click Remove Restriction.

The selection you chose disappears from the Applied Restrictions list, and is no longer considered for the routing mode.
Click OK.

The Edit Route Calculation Parameters dialog box closes, and the advanced routing mode you defined appears in the Edit dialog box, in the Routes Calculated Per Mode list.

Save a custom routing mode as a standard template option

You can add the custom routing mode to the list of templates you can select if you choose Standard (instead of Advanced) when adding another routing mode.

From the Routes Calculated Per Mode list, select the custom routing mode you want to save as a standard template.
Below the list, click Save As Template.

The Save As dialog box appears, with the short name of the custom template populated as a file name.
Specify a name for the file, then click OK.

The routing mode you selected is saved as a new XML file and stored in C:/Program Files/Optimetrics/ADASHI Maps/RouteConfig.

Note: You must edit this XML file to be able to change the height, weight, width information of the routing mode when it is selected as a standard routing mode..

Information on editing the XML file is available in Edit a routing mode's XML file.

Click OK.

Click OK.

Edit a routing mode's XML file

Link a status to a routing mode