RouteTracker - Distribution - Sales - Community

RouteTracker 
is a fully integrated Distribution Information System (DIS) that helps to streamline your distribution tasks.  It provides up to the minute, paperless distribution lists for delivery drivers, sales and other Staff.  Drivers can share feedback to the system through sharing on the Google sheet distribution list.

It is comprised of 3 elements;

1. Shareable, secure distribution list that is hosted on the Cloud using Google Sheets
2. Integrated and dynamic mapping for visualizing & understanding your distribution
3. Dynamic Mobile mapping app (iOS and Android) that allows for efficient, accurate and paperless delivery

The system is extremely flexible including;

• The distribution list is a standard spreadsheet format using Google's free & open source application, Sheets.

• The list is secure and can only be accessed by people who are Shared the document
• Shared Users can have different access privileges (edit, view only etc)
• The list is a simple spreadsheet that can be filtered, sorted and otherwise manipulated however the User sees fit
• Each item on the list is geocoded with it's exact latitude & longitude location so that it can be located on the maps and app 

• Dynamic maps are beautiful representations of the data on the list that can be used for many purposes including;
• Drivers distribution maps including display of multiple different magazines for each route  
  
• Sales presentation maps for Advertising
• City zipcode distribution for purposes of defining demographics
• Advertiser maps
• Specialty purpose maps for websites & blogs - Local Dining Guide
• Maps are dynamically linked to the list such that changes made to the list automatically update the map
• Maps are simple HTML web page format and can be integrated into websites in many simple ways

• The app is a full featured iOS Android app with all the simple great features and gestures that people love in apps
•  

• The app can upload the distribution list at any time, and also works without connection to the web
• Each item can be displayed in a group or singly on a map including the User's location
• Directions to the stop can be accessed
• Each location is also displayed in a table view that can be sorted, filtered and searched
• Each location has it's own detail page with all of the data contained on the sheet
• A simple web based version of the app is available for Android devices

 We provide these 3 things integrated into a single product we call RouteTracker and provide this to our Customers as a subscription service.  The service is a standard Software as a Service (SaaS) product.  Pricing is based on the size of your distribution network.

Working with Dynamic Maps using Google Maps & Spreadsheets

This is a quick start guide to building & adding data to a Google Map created with GPS Visualizer.  Heres how to do it, quickly, with further info & details below.

1. Open the Distribution List spreadsheet in Google docs.
2. Open Google Maps in another window.
3. Size both so you can work easily with Copy <cmd>c and Paste <cmd>v between the windows
4. Copy <cmd>c the business name on the spreadsheet and Paste <cmd>v it into the search ield on the Google Map
5. Find the right business ( you may have to add in the city field to get the right item) and paste it into the Street field on the spreadsheet
6. Repeat steps 4 - 5 until you're done

---Easy Peasey---

Now for some other gory details, please refer to these previous posts;
creating-maps-with-gpsvisualizer
dynamic-linking-of-map-spreadsheet

For locations that DON'T resolve with GPS Visualizers  routine - You can hover over the location on Google maps and the latitude longitude values are displayed.  They can then be manually entered on the spreadsheet.
Google API key -  AIzaSyCOUBN9LPQ0lSMByTWE1JtmAAx35eo2CYs
Bing API key - (use this to geocode big lists)
Am9Z9PSFoZ6sRVh7x5H7SIAFGI1LTJxR7LU-qK4WaJo18DnYoGIk9ORF98_VLDRz
Mapquest API key -  MIUAvSGuQS27RAYgQX4KRrBAOiDKVOHH

Example of the dynamic link URL (note the gid at the end) - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yhmKwXDLn40oZTBzPOTja09V8z3x1kVwQNR1qI8Ie3U/view#gid=293688314

Remotely distributing your App for testing - Adhoc Distribution

The magic word is AdHoc, you can find more information about it in apple's developer portal. And here is a how to create the App, that you can send with your ad hoc profile to your friends. http://diaryofacodemonkey.ruprect.com/2011/03/18/ad-hoc-app-distribution-with-xcode-4/ Also you can take a look at https://testflightapp.com

The app can be distributed via iTunes to anyone who's UDID (Unique Device ID) that you have.  The UDID is just a 40 character unique serial number.
 
Per my friend Victor:

Beta tester;
first obtains the iPad/iPhone UDID number from each of their devices that you want to download to.  Here is a quick description of that process, or;

Connect your device to your laptop & open iTunes
           

1. Goto your device's Summary tab and click on the serial number
2. It should then display the UDID something like; Identifier (UDID): 3086838710f15bd6d787453c752ca517bf9xxxxx
3. Then select Edit - Copy Identifier (UDID)
4. Email this number to your developer

 Next the developer;
 Here is Apple's submission guide with details for the build process.

1. Gather the new Beta Tester UDIDs
2. Add these devices to the devices section of the certificagtes section of the Apple developer
3. Goto the Provisioning Profile section and add the new devices to the Adhoc distribution Profile
4. Download and save the new profile (ex: TLF_Beta_Testing_Profile.mobileprovision)
5. Goto Xcode's Organizer - Archives - Adhoc Distribution and save the resulting ipa file (ex: ThinkLocal.ipa).
6. Send both to the tester for them to perform the download

Next the beta tester;
Here is Apple's submission guide with details for downloading the app.

1. Download the ThinkLocal.ipa & TLF_Beta_Testing_Profile.mobileprovision files to your computer
2. Open iTunes
3. Drop the Beta_Testing.mobileprovision file into your App folder in iTunes
4. Double click the ThinkLocal.ipa file, and it should appear in the iTunes Library - Apps directory
5. Drop that app icon into your App folder on the iPhone
6. Done - we hope

The app should then appear on your iPhone home screen.