TruckTrek
A Traveller's Resource Database
TruckTrekA Traveller's Resource Database |
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You've got your load assignment, the road is clear and the day is young, and you're ready to go. But do you have everything you need to complete the assignment?
Most truckers start out trying to do trip planning on the cheap - buy a copy of the latest Rand-McNally map book and plot the route by hand. Consult the list of company fuel stops and try to figure the least number of stops that will get you there. Run until the DOT says they must stop, and start looking for a place to park, hoping that they won't be disturbing any residential area and earning an early morning visit from the local police.
Many truckers get by on this, and it seems to work better as the trucker gets familiar with the more frequented routes. They learn where the rest stops are, where the better food is, and even a few places where they can get a prescription filled or load up on groceries. It all works well-enough.
Until a new route into a new area is encountered. Until a tight schedule requires the most efficiency in how you plan. Until a snowstorm stops you in a strange town where you've never been before. Or until an unexpected route change leaves you without a company approved fueler in easy range. Until a new state weigh station crops up before they can get the load scaled. How can one prevent or recover from these problems?
The capabilities of modern computers and software, along with their availability and ease-of-use for almost anyone, means that computers can be used to enable a new level of efficiency, and the trucking industry is certainly not untouched by this. The trucking company uses computers to plan loads and keep resources where they are needed, and they use automated messaging, "Qualcomm", to facilitate that. The trucker can use this technology too, and with a cheap laptop and software he or she can plan to go where no trucker has dared to go before.
Combined with one of the most powerful and easiest to use street-level mapping applications available, TruckTrek provides the information that is needed - where the important trucker resources are, and a means to easily access the internet to locate followup data.
And the best news is that you can get TruckTrek for free in return for just keeping your eyes open. See the Payback Challenge.
TruckTrek's first semiannual update is available now. It includes about 400 added truck stops, including the national Roady's association. A thousand new scale locations are identified and a method for being able to see at a glance where scales and washes are is in place, even when zoomed out to the state level. A database of Walmart locations is included in a preliminary edition, including the entire roster of 3300 locations nationwide. A trucking company, Martin Transport, has drop yards, terminals and fuelers identified in their special edition. See the User's Guide for a complete rundown of the contents.
Currently TKE has available the following special editions of TruckTrek:
A special edition of TruckTrek has all the normal features of TruckTrek, but also, in addition, the trucking company's drop yards and terminals are marked with special symbols, and the truck stops which are designated fuel stops by the company have a different color scheme so that they may be readily discerned.
If you want to have one of the special editions of TruckTrek, then first purchase the General Edition from our store below. Send an email to Lmc@ThistleKeep.com requesting the special edition you wish to acquire. Cite your name and your product number (given to you at the time of your original purchase). Scan a copy of your employee ID (showing your name, a company employee number and the company's name) and attach the image to your email. Be sure to include the word "TruckTrek" in the subject line. After you receive a download URL and download the edition, install and update the special edition just as you would the general edition, using the Updaters for that special edition.
If you want a special edition but there is not one listed for your company, send an email to the above address requesting such and providing the company name and headquarters address, and website URL. Be sure to include the word "TruckTrek" in the subject line. TKE will communicate with you about the possibility of adding a special edition for your company.
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This page last updated on Mon Jun 16 2008 |