Addresses and address positions

During start-up, a basic set of addresses is imported, but the address registry can be updated regularly by importing it again. For more information, see Importing address registries.

To keep your address information up to date, we recommend that you import the address information files at regular intervals. If a street cannot be found in Opter, it is probably because the address registry is out of date.

Suggested addresses

When you start entering an address in certain fields in order reception and on the customer web, suggested addresses are displayed. The addresses come from the customer registry (indicated by ) or the temporary address registry (indicated by ).

The temporary address registry contains addresses that have been entered manually in order reception or on the web portals. The number of days the addresses will be stored is set in the office settings (the Address history field on the Order Settings tab). Exceptions can be made to the office setting for individual customers in the customer registry (the Address history field on the Order Settings tab, see Customers (window)).

An address can be removed from the temporary address register by selecting the address when it is displayed and pressing Delete. This works both in order reception and on the web portals.

Example

The courier company has set the office settings to save the addresses for 100 days, but for the customer IKEA, the addresses will only saved for 30 days, because the temporary address register would have too many addresses and would be unmanageable otherwise. This means that on orders where IKEA is the customer, addresses that are no more than 30 days old are displayed, and the address entered on the order is only saved for 30 days.

Address positions

Opter uses PTV Map&Guide to obtain the positions (coordinates) of the addresses. The addresses are marked with a cross on the map. The accuracy of the position on the map may vary depending on the part of the address found on PTV Map&Guide. Accuracy is indicated by three horizontal bars.

Example

Stina Karlsson

Storgatan 42

114 55 Stockholm

Sweden

The coordinates of the exact address were found, including the street number. The position on the map shows the exact address of Storgatan 42 in Stockholm.
: The coordinates of the street were found, but not the street number. So the position shown on the map could, for example, be Storgatan 1 instead of Storgatan 42.
: The coordinates of the postcode/city were found. The position shown on the map is an average of the geographical area, i.e. approximately in the centre of the area 114 55 Stockholm.
: The coordinates could not be found for any part of the address. If the street does not exist in the country entered, the accuracy will automatically be 0 bars. For example, if “Belgium” is entered in the above address, the accuracy will be 0 because Storgatan is not located there, even if PTV Map&Guide finds the rest of the address.
: The coordinates have been manually adjusted. Click on the icon to view the address on the map and see what position has been set for it.

Note:

If route optimisation is to be performed on the order, the position of the address should always be checked if the accuracy is less than three bars.

The address positions may need to be adjusted manually to make them more accurate. For example, if the entrance to a particular address is from another side of the property. You can do this by clicking on Register > Adjust address positions and searching for the address, or by clicking on in the order reception. Then move the cross to where it is required on the map, or enter the exact coordinates.

Add locations

Click on Settings > City distances and add locations there. It is important to state the distance to one or more major towns and cities in order for the locations to be included in the road network.

Note:

Place names must be spelt correctly and postcodes must be written without any spaces (“12345”).

Distance

In Opter, distances between addresses can either be calculated as the crow flies between postcodes or, for example, retrieved from PTV Map&Guide (see PTV Map&Guide).

You set the service used for the distance calculation on the Weight/Distance tab in the office settings. If you are using PTV v2, the type of prize vehicle on the order plays a role in the distance between two addresses as the PTV takes into account the characteristics of the prize vehicle type, such as height and weight, when choosing the route. For more information, see Price vehicle types (window).