errand router app for my special special wants
January 16, 2016 8:23 AM   Subscribe

For years I've been wanting an app that will do these things: 1. Allow me to plan a shortest route between errands, and 2. not require me to tell it exactly where I want to do the errand, but be able to use categories as well as specifics. 3. be very easy to use on a iPhone 5s. 4. also estimate travel time between spots. Does my thing exist? Examples inside - thanks!

So for instance, say I'm out somewhere and I realize I need to get some stuff done on the way home. A typical list of stops might be:

- the most convenient Bed Bath & Beyond store (specific name, but not specific address)
- the most convenient grocery store (category)
- the most convenient gas station (category)
- pick up kids at school (specific address.)

Is there an app that will suggest a route and then guide me on it? Thanks!!
posted by fingersandtoes to Technology (3 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Allow me to plan a shortest route between errands

In computer science, this is known as the "Travelling Salesman Problem" and it is famous because there is no computationally efficient way to solve it. The only way to find The Best route is exhaustive search (aka brute force), and the solution time grows exponentially with the number of stops.

Genetic algorithms can find solutions which are close to the best, but those also take a lot of time.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:32 AM on January 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm not aware of anything, and I've done a fair bit of searching and thinking about it. It's certainly computationally tractable for any reasonable morning or afternoon's worth of errands. And I agree that it's underacknowledged how tiring planning an itinerary is (it is, after all, a type of emotional labour).
posted by ambrosen at 10:26 AM on January 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Check out InRoute (inRoute Route Planner, GPS Navigation & Severe Weather Alerts by Carob Apps, LLC
https://appsto.re/us/ZyX8P.i). There are a number of apps like this in the store. I'm not sure that they can do the category search you want though. But you can do that yourself with a little work with the maps app. If you search for InRoute in the App Store, you'll find a number of apps you can try.
posted by reddot at 5:53 AM on January 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


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