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Route planning

Route planning turns a day's worth of scheduled visits into the most efficient driving route possible. Sacramentum geocodes each visit's address, calculates real driving distances, and orders the stops so that a minister spends less time on the road and more time with the people they are bringing the sacraments to. The result is a printable route, an interactive map, and a one-click way to push the optimized times back onto the calendar.

The Route Planning page​

Navigate to Admin Dashboard → Visitation → Route Planning. The page opens with a controls card at the top — minister, date, and start time — followed by an optimized stop list and a route map once a minister and date are selected.

This page is for one minister and one date at a time. To plan a different minister or a different day, change the selectors and the route reloads automatically.

Selecting a minister and date​

  1. Pick a Minister from the dropdown. The list includes every visitation minister at the parish.
  2. Pick a Date using the date picker. The route planner pulls every planned visit assigned to that minister on that date.
  3. Optionally set a custom Start Time. By default the route uses the minister's saved visit window from minister availability. Override it when a minister is starting later than usual or wants to test a different departure time.

The page reloads as soon as both a minister and a date are selected.

info

If the minister has no planned visits for the selected date, the page shows an empty state. Schedule visits on the visitation calendar first, then return here to see the optimized route.

Reading the route summary​

When visits exist for the chosen minister and date, a summary card appears with the day's totals:

  • Number of stops — how many visits are scheduled.
  • Total time — the estimated time on the road plus the time spent at each stop.
  • Driving distance — the total miles for the route.
  • Optimization status — a green Route Optimized badge if the planner produced a geographically efficient order, or a Not Optimized notice with the reason if it could not.
  • Calculated time — when the route was last computed.

The summary also shows the visit window for that minister on that date and any blocked times the planner is honoring.

When optimization fails, the most common reasons are:

  • Geocoding disabled — your parish has not configured a Google Maps API key. Optimization needs map data to compute driving distances.
  • Missing starting point — the minister has no starting location configured. Set one on minister availability.
  • Insufficient coordinates — one or more stops, or the starting point, lack a geocoded address. Update the visitee or facility addresses so they can be resolved on a map.
  • Optimization error — a transient issue with the optimizer. Retry, then verify each address if the error persists.

Reading the optimized route​

The page lays out the route in two columns on wide screens: stops on the left, the map on the right.

The starting point appears first as a green card with the departure time. Each subsequent stop card shows:

  • Route order — a large number on the left.
  • Visitee name and facility — including a home icon for residential stops or a building icon for facility stops.
  • Address and phone number when available.
  • Estimated arrival time and duration at the stop.
  • Travel time and distance from the previous stop, displayed as a connector between cards.
  • Time conflict warnings — amber alerts when the planner could not honor an exact time request or a preferred window.

The route map on the right shows the same path visually, with the start marked S in green and stops numbered in red. A blue line traces the driving route. A legend below the map confirms the symbols.

Click Open in Google Maps to launch turn-by-turn directions in a new tab — useful for sending to a minister's phone.

Optimizing or recalculating the route​

The route is optimized automatically the first time you load it for a date, and the result is cached. Click Recalculate Routes when something has changed and you need a fresh calculation:

  • A visit's address or facility was updated.
  • A new visit was added or removed.
  • The minister's starting point changed.
  • Map data or geocoded coordinates were refreshed.

Recalculation rebuilds the order and distances using current data, then redraws the map.

tip

You don't need to recalculate after every small edit. The cached route stays accurate as long as the addresses, stops, and starting point haven't changed materially. Recalculate when you've made a structural change, or before printing the route for the day.

Applying optimized times to the calendar​

The optimizer produces an arrival time for each stop. To overwrite the visit times on the calendar with these optimized times, click Apply Times to Calendar.

  1. The confirmation dialog shows how many visits will be updated and the date.
  2. Choose whether to also apply the times to future scheduled visits — when checked, future visits on the same weekday for each visitee will be updated to match the optimized schedule. This is useful for recurring weekly routes.
  3. Click Apply Times.

A toast confirms how many visits were updated. The visit cards on the visitation calendar now reflect the optimized arrival times.

warning

Applying times overwrites the start time on every visit on this route. If a minister has manually negotiated an exact time with a visitee, prefer keeping that time on the visit and letting the planner work around it rather than applying optimized times wholesale.

Printing the route​

Click the printer icon next to the refresh button to print a clean, paper-friendly version of the route. The printed sheet includes:

  • The minister's name and date
  • The total stops, time, and distance
  • Each stop card in order, with addresses and phone numbers
  • The route map (when available)

The toolbar, filters, and summary card are hidden on print. Page breaks are placed between stop cards so each visit fits cleanly on a page if a minister prefers a multi-page handout.

This printable route is helpful for ministers who don't carry a phone in the field or who want a backup paper copy for the day.

Sending the route to the Minister App​

Optimized arrival times and route order are read by the Minister App automatically. Once you've optimized a date and (optionally) applied times to the calendar, the minister sees the same ordered list of stops on their phone, with arrival times and travel estimates between visits. They mark each stop completed as they go, and the parish gets real-time visibility into how the day is progressing.

There is no separate "send" step. The route is always live for the assigned minister.

What's next​

  • The visitation calendar — schedule, edit, and review the visits that drive each day's route
  • Minister availability — configure visit windows, blocked times, and the starting point the route depends on
  • Visitees — keep visitee addresses accurate so the planner can geocode every stop