Route Planning by Hand: Distance Matrices, Nearest-Neighbour Tours, 2-Opt Improvements, Time Windows, Vehicle Capacity & Sweep Routes
Plan delivery or service routes without special software: distance matrices from coordinates, nearest-neighbour tours, 2-opt swaps that shorten them, time-window checks, vehicle capacities and sweep routes, with every cell checked as you go.
One-time payment · lifetime access · lessons, labs, exam and certificate included · no subscription.
About this course
In this course you plan delivery routes for a fictional local carrier with nothing but spreadsheet formulas. You turn grid coordinates into a road-km distance matrix with SQRT and INDEX/MATCH, build a nearest-neighbour tour step by step with MINIFS and XLOOKUP, and shorten it with 2-opt moves by calculating the gain of each swap. You schedule the tour against customer time windows with MAX, count waiting minutes and late stops, split a route when the van is full, group stops into sectors with the sweep method using ATAN, DEGREES and RANK.EQ, cost every route per km, hour and van, and compare plans in a chart.
Lessons
- From Coordinates to a Distance Matrix Pro
- The Nearest-Neighbour Tour, Step by Step Pro
- 2-Opt: Uncrossing the Tour Pro
- Time Windows: Arrivals, Waiting and Late Stops Pro
- Vehicle Capacity: Cumulative Loads and Splitting Routes Pro
- The Sweep Method: Angles, Sweep Order and Sectors Pro
- Cost per Route and per Stop Pro
- Comparing Plans: Kilometres, Vans, Lateness and Cost Pro