Create route restrictions (avoid areas)

A route restriction is a named geographic area the route optimizer must avoid when planning multi-stop routes. You draw one or more closed polygons on a map, give the restriction a name, and the optimizer keeps routes out of those areas. Think of them as your library of no-go zones — a construction site, a bridge you can't send vehicles over, a neighborhood you don't serve.

The Route Restrictions page lives under Network at /control/route-restrictions. Its subtitle says it plainly: Geographic areas the route optimizer must avoid when planning multi-stop routes.

Note

This is a beta feature. Reach out to Nash if you'd like early access.

Important

A restriction does nothing on its own. It only takes effect once you attach it to an optimization strategy or pick it in the Optimize flow when you run an optimization. Creating a restriction here just adds it to the library; see Optimize orders and Optimization strategies for where it gets applied.

The list

The page is a single table of the restrictions your organization has created. There's no search box, no filters, and no tabs — just the list and one button.

Each row shows these columns:

• Name — what you called the restriction.
• Description — the optional note you added; shows — when empty.
• Polygons — how many avoid-areas this restriction contains.
• ID — the restriction's identifier, with a button to copy it.

At the end of each row are two actions: a pencil to edit the restriction (opens its drawer) and a trash to delete it. Deleting asks you to confirm — the dialog warns that the restriction "will be removed along with its polygons" and that any optimization strategy referencing it will be detached automatically.

To add one, select New Route Restriction in the top right.

Create a route restriction

Selecting New Route Restriction opens a drawer with three sections.

Basic Information

• Name (required) — a short label, for example "Downtown construction zone". You can't save without it.
• Description (optional) — a note on what the avoid-area is for.

Active period

Four optional date and time fields — Active from (date), Active until (date), Active from (time), and Active until (time) — for recording when a restriction is meant to be in effect.

Warning

The Active period is informational only today. As the drawer itself states, the optimizer does not yet honour these times — a restriction with an Active period set still applies whenever it's attached to a strategy or picked in the Optimize flow, regardless of the dates and times you enter. Treat these fields as a note to yourself, not an on/off schedule. If you leave them all blank, no active period is stored.

Avoid polygons

Draw at least one closed polygon on the map. Routes will not enter the areas you draw here. You can add up to 20 polygons per restriction. Each polygon must be a closed shape — the drawing control handles closing the ring for you.

Note

The draw map opens centered on Melbourne, Australia. If your operating area is elsewhere, pan and zoom the map to your region before you start drawing.

When you're done, select Create Restriction at the bottom of the drawer. You'll see a "Route restriction created" confirmation and the new restriction appears in the list.

Edit or delete a restriction

• Edit — select the pencil on a row to reopen the drawer, change the name, description, active period, or polygons, and select Update Restriction.
• Delete — select the trash on a row and confirm. The restriction and its polygons are removed, and any optimization strategy that referenced it is detached automatically.

Route restrictions vs. zones and zone restrictions

Route restrictions are easy to confuse with two other polygon-drawing features under Network. They are separate things:

• Route restrictions (this page) — avoid areas. Polygons the multi-stop route optimizer must not enter.
• Zone coverage polygons (see Zones) — the opposite intent: polygons that define the area a zone covers, used for filtering and assignment, not for keeping the optimizer out.
• A separate Restrictions tab that appears within Zones for some organizations is a different, non-geographic feature entirely — it has no polygons and is unrelated to route optimization.

If you're trying to steer the optimizer away from an area, this page — Route Restrictions — is the right one.

Related

• Optimize orders — pick a restriction for a single optimization run.
• Optimization strategies — attach restrictions so they apply every time a strategy runs.
• Zones — coverage polygons, a separate use of the map.