Mapping for Trucks: More Than Directions, It’s Optimisation
- Written by Daniel Antonello
Daniel Antonello, General Manager Oceania, HERE Technologies
At the end of June this year, Hampden Bridge in Kangaroo Valley NSW had its weight limit reduced from 42.5 tonnes to 23 tonnes. While regular vehicles are unaffected by this change, for heavy vehicles, it’s a different story. Trucks and other heavy vehicles who use this bridge will now have to take detours to meet their intended destination, creating a ripple effect on route planning, fuel considerations, and job completion time. While Hampden Bridge’s change was necessary, weight limits are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to modern truck routing.
From road width to regulations, heavy vehicles are affected by numerous external factors that impact truck routing optimisation. These detours, especially when unplanned for, increase the time needed to complete journeys, and overall trucking optimisation. Therefore, it has become more important than ever that truck routing factors in truck-specific attributes such as vehicle size, load, and road restrictions, so they can reach their intended destination efficiently and safely.
What are routing challenges for trucking?
Truck routing is more than just navigation for bigger vehicles: it’s a complex system of constraints, regulations, and real-world obstacles, often changing from one route to the next. For many heavy vehicles, this creates a number of delays to what should typically be a straightforward trip. Some key truck routing challenges include:
• Bridge heights: A key safety and productivity issue on our roads is trucks hitting bridges due to their canopy height or load. More often, we see bridge strikes when drivers are unaware of their height limits and travel under bridges, railway tracks, or other low-ceiling areas. Frustratingly for road-users, bridge operators and road authorities, this is easily solved using truck maps that are widely available today, causing avoidable delays and accidents.
Routing for trucks and heavy vehicles comes with unique challenges, from restricted roads to tight manoeuvring spaces. It’s critical to equip fleets with the right tools before the journey begins. With the right advanced mapping and routing technology, these regular challenges can not only be overcome in the moment with efficient detours but avoided altogether from the beginning.
Truck maps for transport services
Maps built for professional drivers are essential for overcoming the routing challenges trucks and heavy vehicles consistently face. By integrating detailed road data specific for commercial vehicles, with real-time information on traffic levels, road closures, and journey conditions, advancing mapping systems empower trucks to move efficiently, safely, and legally.
Optimisation tools enable transport companies to reduce operational costs and lower delivery fees. These technologies ensure trucks and vans are properly loaded and daily schedules are well-optimised – whether the goal is reducing costs, kilometers travelled, driving hours, fuel consumption or a combination of these factors. That part is clear. But the real hidden advantage of optimisation tools is their ability to reduce driver stress and promote safer roads. By tailoring routes to driver preferences, providing clear guidance in unfamiliar areas, setting realistic travel-times between stops, and suggesting convenient rest areas, these tools create an overall better driving experience . The result? More satisfied, stress-free drivers, and improved retention across the fleet.
Standard navigation systems found in most cars are not designed for commercial vehicles, such as trucks and vans. They do not consider vehicle parameters or load restraints. Our road network is complex and driving in unfamiliar areas requires drivers to pay close attention to road rules, which can be difficult as not all road rules are sign posted or easily visible. Navigation systems using truck maps provide relevant road information such as bridge clearances, axle-weight limits, turning space, and restricted access zones – allowing routes to be personalised to the exact specifications of the vehicle before it has even hit the road. Then, once the journey has begun, routes receive real-time traffic updates so drivers can respond quickly to roadworks, weather events, or accidents that occur while driving. Some trucks are only permitted to drive on certain roads, such b-double combinations, and truck/trailer combination data is included in the truck maps to ensure compliance with regulations. Furthermore, as many truck drivers rely on mobile navigation, ensuring device tools are also equipped with real-time updates and personalised routing is imperative.
Beyond routing, advanced mapping platforms support multi-stop journey planning, enabling dispatchers to optimise entire delivery tours based on vehicle profiles, cargo types, and real-time conditions. This ensures not just route efficiency, but smarter fleet-wide coordination.
For heavy vehicles, no journey is as straightforward as a regular car. Whether it’s an infrastructure challenge; weight limits, height limits, and road width, or an optimsation goal; delivery times, cost, km travelled, fuel consumed, or a dynamic road challenge; traffic congestion, roadworks, or weather events, trucks face a variety of challenges every day. Thankfully, these do not have to be a burden on the driver, transport provider or consumer if vehicle-aware maps are in place.
Drivers can optimise routes before departure and stay agile when the unexpected happens. Mapping isn’t just about directions – it’s an intelligence layer for commercial vehicles that enable smarter decisions and smoother operations.
