Optimization is the main high-level building block of the Route4Me API service. It consists of a collection of addresses that need to be visited and can contain all the information on various factors (such as vehicles, destination time constraints, driver skills, and many others) that need to be taken into account to properly and effectively solve the optimization problem.
Route4me treats optimizations as mathematical problems to be solved.
An address is a precise location of a depot or one or more destinations. The primary way to define an address is through a latitude/longitude pair, which is also the most precise and reliable method. A street address is a close second.
A destination is any place that needs visitation: a business establishment, an apartment, a warehouse, or a street vendor. One address can be associated with multiple destinations. The reverse is not valid.
A route is a sequence of destinations (addresses) that need to be visited by a single vehicle and driver within a fixed period. The Route4Me service solving an optimization results in one or more routes, which may recur in the future.
All you need to get a simple optimized route is a set of addresses (see here). However, the more information you provide in the optimization, the more complete the dataset our optimization engine has, and the more impact the resulting optimization will have.