Geocode distance engine scenarios

The following scenarios give an overview of how geocodes work depending on your setup.

Example 1

• USA and Canada are set up to use PC*Miler as the distance engine for distance and time retrieval
• Geocodes are optional
• No distance engine is specified for geocode retrieval
• None of the entity or transactional addresses have geocodes

Result 1

A transit time and distance is returned by PC*Miler for origin and destination pairs in North America.

Example 1a

• Same as example 1, but there are geocodes in the entity and transactional addresses

Result 1a

If the system can return a distance and transit time from the distance server specified, then it does so. This value takes precedence over geocodes.

Example 2

• The origin point is in the USA, a region for which you use PC*Miler for the distance and time calculation
• The destination point in France, a region for which you use i2 Distance to return distances and times
• There are no distance time overrides
• The origin and the destination points are in two separate regions as defined by the distance engines
• There are no geocodes for the origin or destination addresses
• There are no default geocodes for the USA and France

Result 2

The system will fail to return a distance and the rating will also fail.

Example 2a

• Same as example 2, but you have assigned default geocodes for the USA and France

Result 2a

The system uses the default geocodes to calculate a straight-line distance using the distance factor. Rating proceeds and an approximate transit time is calculated

Example 2b

• Same as example 2, but you have supplied distance engines to derive geocodes for addresses in the USA and France
• Geocodes are defined as mandatory for the USA and France

Result 2b

Both the origin and the destination point will have a system-defined geocode, although you could manually override this. These geocodes are used instead of the country’s default geocodes to calculate the straight-line distance. The curvature factor is calculated and rating proceeds.

Example 3

• Two countries do not have a distance engine specified for both distance time retrieval and geocode calculation

Result 3

If no geocodes are available then rating fails. However, if you manually apply geocodes to these addresses, then the system uses these geocodes to calculate a straight-line distance and rating should succeed.

Note: Persistent distance time overrides will continue to supersede all system distance and time calculations.