ProductDrive time and routes
Drive time rings and daily visit routes
PropelMapper draws 30 and 60 minute drive time on the map and works out a driving order for the day's stops, so a farm manager with a dozen visits can see which ones belong together before the truck leaves the yard.
Planning a day of farm visits
Jim G., a farm manager at Peoples Company, told us about July 2nd. Thirty-one locations, one July day. Nobody does that by driving to farms in the order the owners called. It only works if the stops are grouped by road and the visits themselves are short because nobody is writing reports in the cab.
The second half of that is the rest of PropelMapper: talk at each stop, the draft comes later. This page is about the first half. Where are the stops, how far apart are they, and which ones can you reach before lunch?
Most advisors already carry a rough answer in their head. The map makes it a shared one, so the manager assigning visits and the advisor driving them are looking at the same distances.
Next steps: what you said and what the report says
A manager finishing at Hilltop, before heading to the next farm.
“Finished at Hilltop. Schoolhouse is next, then Home Place. Railroad's on the way back but it's not scheduled, I'll put it on Thursday's route with Timber Edge.”
Next steps - Hilltop
At a glance
Next visits today: Schoolhouse, then Home Place. Railroad to be added to Thursday with Timber Edge.
Observations
Next visits today: Schoolhouse, then Home Place. Railroad to be added to Thursday with Timber Edge.
After your review
Example account: Prairie Agronomy
Drive time areas around each place
Turn on the layer called Who can I reach today and PropelMapper shades the area you can reach by road in 30 minutes and in 60, from where you are standing or from the middle of the map. A straight-line circle lies about this. A farm just across a river with one bridge can be farther in minutes than a farm twice the distance down the highway, and the drive time layer shows that.
It changes what you say yes to. When a grower calls about a problem field and you are standing at another farm, one look tells you whether you can get there this afternoon or whether it is a tomorrow morning stop.
Today's route
Today's route takes the places with a visit scheduled for the day, works out a driving order between them and draws the line on the map, with the number of stops. On the Today page the next stop shows how many minutes it is from the one before.
We think the right order is almost never the order the visits were booked. Booking happens around the owner's schedule. Driving should happen around the roads. When the suggested order and the owner's appointment time disagree, the appointment wins, and you can move it on the calendar if the owner agrees.
Suggesting the nearest saved field
When you start a visit, the field app suggests the saved field closest to where you are standing. It is a suggestion. Where fields share a gate, tap the other one. The visit, its pins and its report all follow the field you choose.
“On July 2nd I did 31 locations in one day.”
Jim G.Farm Manager, Peoples Company Questions about drive time and routes
Does PropelMapper change my appointment times?
No. Today's route suggests a driving order for the day's scheduled stops and draws it on the map. Appointment times stay as booked until you move them.
Do drive time and routes work offline?
Drive time and the route are worked out with a connection. Maps you download before leaving still show your saved fields and pins without signal.
Who it’s for
Farm managers covering many owners in a day, crop consultants with a territory that spans counties, and vets and nutritionists whose day is a loop of farms.