‘Quick Route’ Applet

Some of you may have had a sneak preview of this applet at the International Users Conference (in San Diego), but now you can all try it yourselves! Download it now from ArcScripts. This applet requires ArcPad 7.0.1 which has just been released. You can download an evaluation of ArcPad 7.0.1 from here.

This applet allows you to highlight the shortest route which is defined by up to 10 stops. To use, it requires polyline feature layers that have ‘clean’ topology ie: lines segments that snap end to end, and always meet at intersections rather than overlap. The user can switch between different layers within a map, but only produce a route on one layer at a time.

The Quick Route toolbar has 2 dropdowns with 6 buttons. The first has:

Add Stop (2 to 10 stops can be added)

Delete last stop (used to clear stops)

Delete all stops (used to clear all stops)

The second has:

Find Route (highlights the shortest route between stops)

Configuration Options (Allows input of an expression to filter records)

Validate Touching lines (Select 2 “touching” lines and run tool to validate that they meet)

So to generate a quick route,

• open a polyline feature layer
• tap the ‘Add Stop’ button
• tap locations on the map where you wish to add stop (at a minimum add a start and stop location)
• tap the ‘Find Route’ button!

If you find that a complete route is not created, that it stops part way, zoom in and use the “Validate Touching Line” tool to confirm if there is a break in your topology. For more information, see the Readme.doc file included in the download.