August 2023 Platform Release Notes

HERE Workspace - delete versioned layers
 

With this release, it is possible to delete versioned layers within a catalog without needing to delete the entire catalog. Any versioned layer within a catalog can be deleted, whether it does or does not contain data.

• Important Notes:
  • While this functionality is now enabled, HERE does not recommend deleting versioned layers. Mistakenly deleted layers can have severe consequences in that i) deletions are permanent and cannot be recovered, ii) deleting a versioned layer can break data dependency chains inside a catalog and any dependencies outside of the catalog, impacting map compilation use cases, and iii) data processing pipelines dependent on versioned layers which are deleted will immediately and irrecoverably break.
  • Cost savings associated with the deletion of versioned layers will not be shown immediately and can take up to (2) weeks to be represented in your usage dashboard.
  • Please learn more about HERE's recommended deprecation lifecycle for versioned layer data here. 

HERE Tour planning

We are thrilled to announce the latest updates to our Tour Planning (VRP) Solver Product, designed to enhance your experience and support a broader range of use cases while ensuring the most practical and efficient tours possible.

Here's what's new:

1. Vehicle Dependent Service Time (stopBaseDuration): With the introduction of stopBaseDuration with vehicle types, you can now set varying service times for different types of vehicles. In a mixed vehicle type Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), the time taken at a stop can vary based on the vehicle type used. For example, a pickup or delivery task may take longer for a truck than for a car. This feature enables users to specify different service times for each vehicle. Dispatchers can define the "stopBaseDuration" for each vehicle, which will be added to every stop (with at least one pickup or delivery). Additionally, the job level service duration will be added on top of the "stopBaseDuration."

   This feature is valuable for managing total service time at a stop with multiple tasks. Dispatchers should use "stopBaseDuration" to set a common duration, like parking time, for all stops. Then, at the individual task level, a shorter duration should be specified to account only for that specific task's execution time. This way, the total service time at the stop is calculated as the sum of "stopBaseDuration" and the total service time for all tasks. This approach provides an effective way to handle the service time for a cluster of tasks at a stop.

2. Support for speedFactor: In certain cases, like with new drivers or for custom adjustments, you may want to modify the vehicle's speed relative to the standard speed. The new SpeedFactor feature allows you to adjust the driving duration by altering the vehicle speed. For example, setting a speedFactor of 0.1 reduces the speed to 10% of normal, effectively making the vehicle take 10 times longer to cover the same distance. Please ensure to use realistic values for the speedFactor to achieve accurate results.
3. New vehicle profiles (Bus, Private Bus): These new vehicle profiles are specifically tailored for school or employee pickup-drop use cases. Unlike truck profiles, buses are allowed on more roads, making them ideal for such scenarios. By utilizing bus profiles, you can optimize routes more effectively and ensure smoother transportation operations.
4. Support for Vehicle Ids: Instead of providing just the quantity of vehicles, you can now provide a list of vehicle IDs. This feature enables seamless mapping of your vehicles to the correct IDs within the system, making it easier to manage and assign jobs to specific vehicles. Vehicle IDs are also supported in the Relations feature, allowing you to associate tasks with particular vehicles using the same ID.
5. Vehicle shift start time offset: The property timeOffset specifies an offset in seconds from given shift start time property. When used with vehicle's start place, it defines a maximum time offset for departure time optimization (but it is not more than maximum shift duration). In practical terms, this means the driver must initiate the tour within the specified offset time from the defined shift start time. This feature is especially beneficial when aiming to start the tour promptly, ensuring drivers are prepared for any unforeseen disruptions that may arise during the tour. By allowing flexibility in departure times within the defined offset, the tour can adapt to real-time circumstances while maintaining optimal planning and efficiency.

Refer to Tour planning documentation and tutorials to learn more about more features and capabilities.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

HERE Style Editor 1.3 released

The HERE Style Editor is a web tool on HERE platform which allows the creation of custom map styles.
The customized styles can be utilized with HERE SDK and Maps API for JavaScript in a consistent manner.

The new version 1.3 of HERE Style Editor introduces new map customization options for:

• Traffic Flow & Incident information 
  • The feature to customize the Traffic Flow allows the adjustment of the different flow categories with regard to colors and line display. 
    Traffic incidents lines - indicating the impacted road segment - can be tailored with regard to its line representation and coloring.
• Unpaved Roads 
  • For roads the new version supports the adjustment of the unpaved attribute as an additional option to the comprehensive set of modifications which can be done already.