Route optimization

In SortScape, we’re all about making your day more efficient. One tool designed to help with that is the Route Optimization feature. This feature allows you to optimize your routing by reordering your job runs to minimize travel time, meaning less time on the road and more time at your job sites.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Go to your SortScape app and open up the schedule.
2. Click the map button at the top of each job run. This will open a modal that shows all visits for that particular job run on a map. It’s a great way to visualise your day.
3. Set your start time. Enter when you plan to start your day to see estimated arrival times for each visit and when you’ll finish.
4. Set your start and end address. If you start your day at the office/shed or at home and end it there, you should put that as your start and end address to allow us to optimise your route properly.
5. Review the route. If you notice that your route doesn’t look quite right, look out for the ‘Optimize Route’ button. If your route could use some tweaking for better efficiency, this button will be enabled.
6. Optimize. All you need to do is click on the ‘Optimize Route’ button. The SortScape app will then reorder your jobs to make sure you’re taking the quickest route possible.

Using Route Optimization not only saves you time, but it also reduces non-billable time spent on the road. That’s more time you can dedicate to your tasks, your clients, and growing your business.

Smart ETAs (estimated arrival and finish times)

Smart ETAs are SortScape’s automatically calculated arrival and finish times for each visit on a job run. They give you a realistic plan for the day — when to arrive at each property and when you’ll finish — without entering a start and end time on every visit.

Smart ETAs are shown only in the route optimization view (the map modal). They do not appear on the main schedule or on printed runsheets. If you need times visible on the schedule or print view, see How do I add start and end times to visits? for Calendar view.

Where to find Smart ETAs

Smart ETAs are easy to miss because they live inside route optimization, not on the schedule itself. To view them:

1. Open the Schedule (day or week view)
2. Click the map button at the top of the job run you want to plan
3. Enter a start time and start address — Smart ETAs appear above each visit in the list on the left

The map button is the only way to open route optimization and see Smart ETAs for a run.

How Smart ETAs work

When you set a start time and start address, SortScape calculates:

• Arrival time — when the crew should reach each property
• Finish time — when they should leave, based on the visit’s estimated duration
• End of day — when the crew is expected to finish the run

These times factor in your day’s start time, each visit’s estimated duration, and travel time between stops. If you click Optimize Route, the visit order is reordered for efficiency and the Smart ETAs are recalculated to match.

Make sure each visit has an estimated time (total man hours) set for the most accurate Smart ETAs.

Estimated vs actual times

In the route optimization modal, times appear above each visit:

• Grey times are estimates based on your route and visit durations
• Green times are actual logged start and end times after a visit is completed or the visit timer is used

As your crew works through the day, remaining Smart ETAs in route optimization adjust automatically based on real progress.

When to use Smart ETAs vs Calendar view

	Smart ETAs (route optimization)	Calendar view
Best for	Planning a day’s route and checking estimated arrival/finish times before crews head out	Times that need to appear on the schedule, mobile app, or printed runsheet
Where times appear	Route optimization modal only (click the map button on a job run)	Schedule, calendar views, and print view
How times are set	Automatically calculated when you set a start time and address	Manually entered on each visit
Route optimization	Works with anytime visits	Only works with anytime visits; fixed-time visits stay in their time slots
Setup required	Open route optimization and set a start time and address	Enable Calendar view in Visit settings

If you want to plan arrival and finish times for a flexible Classic schedule day, Smart ETAs in route optimization are the simpler option. If you need staff to see those times on the schedule, in the mobile app, or on a printed runsheet, use Calendar view instead.

Default start times

Admins can set the default start time used for route optimisation on the Visit Settings admin page.

Adding a shed or home as a start address

A shed or home can be added as an office internal property by clicking add new

near start address, searching for the address and clicking create.

Default start address

To change the default start address, click ‘SETTINGS’ near the start address.

Choose either:

Start from a particular property like your shed or home (if created) or

Start from the first property from the first visit in the job run.

Manual reordering

Don’t like the optimized route? Simply drag and drop visits to reorder them manually. The route automatically recalculates as you make changes.

Finish close to end address

Use this option when you want the route to end near your chosen end address (for example, home or the office). When Finish close to end address is turned on, the system orders the run so that the first job is the one furthest from the end address. You then work from farthest to nearest and finish close to where you need to be.

Where to find it: In the route optimization modal, the checkbox appears below the start time and above the Start address field. It only appears when the run has at least two all-day visits and no visits are completed yet (so the whole run can be optimized).

If you’re an admin and want this behavior for all new runs, turn the option on and click Set as default. Your choice is saved for this run and, when set as default, for future runs.

Large routes

The default route optimization can handle routes up to 25 visits. For customers on the premium plan we are able to optimize routes up to 150 visits. Keep in mind, that this optimisation may take a while.

Notes

Notes are included as stops in the route optimization when you fill out the address field.