Route Optimization | FieldCamp

Reorder technician stops to minimize drive time. Compare routes, optimize for multiple techs, and share route links — all built into FieldCamp's calendar.

Route optimization takes a technician's list of jobs for the day and reorders them to minimize driving time. Instead of visiting stops in the order they were scheduled, FieldCamp calculates the most efficient path — saving fuel, reducing windshield time, and fitting more jobs into every day.

This feature is built directly into FieldCamp. No third-party routing tools, no extra fees.

Start with the Command Centre

Open the Command Centre with Cmd+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows) and optimize routes with plain language:

"Optimize today's route for Mike" — runs route optimization for a specific technician
"Show me tomorrow's routes" — preview the planned routes for the whole team
"How many miles is David driving today?" — check drive distance before and after optimization
"Reorder Sarah's stops to start from the warehouse" — adjust the route starting point

For everything the Command Centre can do, see the AI Skills guide.

How to Access Route Optimization

Click Calendar in the main navigation
Select the Team Tracking tab
The route optimization interface opens

route optimization screen in fieldcamp

On the left side of the screen, you'll configure what to optimize:

Pick a Technician

Select the technician whose route you want to optimize. Their scheduled jobs for the selected date load automatically.

Pick a Date

Use the date picker to choose which day to optimize. The system loads all jobs for that date and groups them by type.

Filter Jobs

Jobs fall into two categories:

Category	Description	Optimization Behavior
Confirmed	Fixed technician and time — the customer is expecting you at a specific hour	The optimizer works around these; they stay locked in place
Flexible	Assigned technician but set to "Anytime" — no specific time commitment	These are the ideal candidates for reordering

For the best optimization results, set flexible jobs to "Anytime" when scheduling them. This gives the algorithm maximum freedom to find the shortest route.

You can filter the view to show only flexible jobs (recommended for pure optimization), only confirmed jobs (to see your constraints), or all jobs together.

Four Route Views

Once jobs are loaded, you can view the route in four different ways:

Map View

The default view shows all job stops as pins on a map connected by driving lines. The original route order is displayed so you can see the current path before optimizing.

Side-by-Side View

comparing original and optimized routes

After running optimization, this view shows the original route and the optimized route next to each other. You can visually compare the two paths and see how much driving distance the new order saves.

Timeline View

A drag-and-drop timeline where stops are listed in order. You can manually reorder stops by dragging them up or down — useful for fine-tuning after the AI optimizes, or when you know a customer prefers a morning visit.

This view includes undo and redo so you can experiment with different orderings without losing your work.

Route Table

A tabular list of all stops showing:

Stop number and client name
Service address
Estimated arrival time
Drive time between each stop
Total route duration

This is the best view for reviewing the numbers — total miles, total drive time, and time saved.

Running Optimization

Click the Optimize button (top-right corner). FieldCamp's AI recalculates the best route order considering:

Geographic proximity between stops
Confirmed appointment times that can't move
Start and end location (home base or first/last job)
Estimated service duration at each stop

The optimized route appears in the side-by-side view for comparison. Nothing is applied yet — this is a preview.

Applying the Optimized Route

Review the suggested route and, if it looks good, click Apply. The optimized job order is committed to your dispatch calendar, and the technician's schedule updates accordingly.

If you don't apply, the original route remains unchanged — no accidental updates or customer miscommunication.

Always review the optimized route before applying. The algorithm minimizes drive time, but you may know about customer preferences, gate codes, or access restrictions that the system doesn't.

Multi-Tech Mode

For full-team optimization, switch to Multi-Tech Mode (Entire Team). Instead of optimizing one person's route, this mode:

Looks at all technicians' schedules for the selected date
Rebalances work across the team based on geography
Reassigns flexible jobs to reduce total driving for everyone
Respects confirmed appointments and skill requirements

This is ideal for morning planning when you want to optimize the entire day before dispatching.

Once routes are applied, you can generate a shareable route link for each technician. The technician opens the link on their phone and follows the optimized path in Google Maps or their preferred navigation app — no extra apps required.

Technicians using the FieldCamp mobile app also see their optimized route directly in the app.

Missing Coordinates

If a job doesn't have a service address (or the address couldn't be geocoded), FieldCamp shows a warning. Jobs without coordinates are excluded from route optimization since the system can't calculate driving distances.

Fix missing addresses by updating the job or client record before running optimization.

Tips for Better Routes

Set flexible jobs to "Anytime" — this gives the optimizer the most room to work with
Use Single Tech mode for one-off adjustments and Multi-Tech mode for morning planning
Review every morning — routes optimized yesterday may need updating based on new jobs, cancellations, or technician availability
Check for missing addresses before optimizing — incomplete data leads to incomplete routes

For AI-powered route optimization across your entire team, see AI Dispatcher's route planning.