I am an outside salesman who makes up to 20 calls a day. I have a list
of addresses and have to plan a route which best utilizes my time. I
have been using mapquest but it is very time consuming. First I put in
each address and plot them on a map to find out where they are all
located. Then I plan the route that looks the best and then I have to
punch in each address again to get the directions for my planned
route. With The software that I am looking for, I would just punch in
the 20 or so addresses and the best (fastest/shortest) route would be
planned for me and I just hit print. Can you Direct me to software
that can do this for me? If there are numerous options please give me
a list of at least 3 to choose from. I am on a budget so if it costs
thousands of dollars it is not pratical. Thank you for your help.

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Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 09 Mar 2004 19:01 PST

Hello Sdquigley,

Getting to three solutions appears to be a problem. The only product I
found that appears to do what you want:
 - multiple way points
 - optimize / order the way points to minimize distance and/or time
 - runs on MS Windows
is a Microsoft product named - MapPoint.
  http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/2004/default.mspx
The introduction unfortunately does not say too much on your specific
problem. I found a technical reference at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/mappoint/html/ALLTroubleshootRoutes.asp
which has several trouble shooting recommendations for route
optimization, so the feature is definitely present.

There is also a trial version at
  http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/2004/trial.mspx
for a small fee (under $10).

If this is adequate, please let me know so I can post a proper answer.
  --Maniac

If you have a laptop, you might like to look at Delorme's Earthmate.
It will allow you to plan a route with muli stops and in addition is a
GPS system with voice navigation so you will always know where you
are. The cost is around $129 but of course if you don't already have
the laptop then it is probably going to be outside your budget

unfortunately, I currently do not have a laptop. Earthmate sounds
ideal if I did though. Would you suggest anything for a desktop?

Take a look at Streets and Trips 2004 by microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/streets/default.asp It's only about $30. All
you do is plug in each place you want to go and it plans the route for
you! It will tell you how long the trip is (mile, time, gas), where
construction is, and it lets you add rest points. I use the program
before every long trip, and I love it. There is also a pocket streets
and trips you can have on a handheld with GPS, sounds cool, but Ive
never tried it.